>>>I think the right has moved farther right over the last couple of decades, but I think National Review is still attempting to be a magazine for mainstream conservatives, not as Bannon put it, "a platform for the alt-right." Whether Buckley would recognize NR today, I don't know. (Pretty sure he wouldn't recognize the GOP.)
>>
>>For sure.
>>But would FDR or JFK recognize the party that led the fight to increase prison terms and voted to repeal Glass-Steagall?
>
>I wonder how JFK (or other historical Democratic stalwarts) would feel about their party...
>
>1) Running on a platform to overturn the Hyde Amendment
>2) Running on a platform to fund elective abortions
>3) Running on a platform to overturn capital punishment
>4) Running on a platform to make college tuition free for families making up to 125K a year (or scale/adjust the number down to prior generations)
>
>No question the Republican party has gone insanely to the right. My point is that the DNC has essentially done the same thing in the other direction. The DNC platform says nothing about the poor pace of recovery, poor GDP growth, etc. The platform is all about inequality and rectifying it through massive redistribution.

Both parties have become hostage to their supporters.
JFK was elected by a coaliton of bible thumping southern racists and labor unions.
Nonetheless, he sent federal marshalls into the south to protect black protesters.
Can you imagine a contemporary politician - on either side- taking on such a large block of supporters?

The most important change has been the role of money in politics.
McCain Feingold, while not nearly adequate, was at least a step forward
The Citizens United decision was disastrous.
The only bright light so far in the campaign has been the glint of hope that the dems might re-take the senate.
If they do, we have a good chance of getting a couple of judges on the supreme court.
Job #1 is to overturn Citizens United.