I keep hearing that until recently, the two major political parties in the US weren't ideologically aligned, i.e., both the Republicans and the Democrats had liberal and conservative wings. The Democrats, in particular, had a strong contingent of people we'd call very conservative, until the civil rights era, and vestiges of this lingered until very recently. As I understand it, both George Washiington and Alexander Hamilton warned of the dangers of partisanship and party politics, and things...
