I think the easiest solution, if the person you’re talking to is not a conservative and is just the embodiment of the adage “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, is to point out that before, during, and immediately after the Civil War, the Democrats were the conservative party, and the Republicans were liberal - to the point of radicalism, even. The Republican Party of the 1850s and 60s was a VERY big tent consisting of just about everyone who opposed slavery - from ultra-wealthy industrialists to LITERAL Marxists. But nowadays, the Republican party quite openly advertises itself as conservative.
The people have the same agenda - or at least similar ones. Only party preference has changed.
Otherwise you could point to the Southern Strategy leading the GOP to court racist conservatives, the same demographic who caused the Civil War; or that almost all major civil rights legislation post-Grant have been under Democrat administrations. Brown vs. Board of Ed was during Eisenhower’s term, but Ike:
A. Was asked to run by both parties
B. Disdained the conservative wing of the GOP
and
C. Was done by the Supreme Court, which Eisenhower had no (immediate or direct) say in.
I think the easiest solution, if the person you’re talking to is not a conservative and is just the embodiment of the adage “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”, is to point out that before, during, and immediately after the Civil War, the Democrats were the conservative party, and the Republicans were liberal - to the point of radicalism, even. The Republican Party of the 1850s and 60s was a VERY big tent consisting of just about everyone who opposed slavery - from ultra-wealthy industrialists to LITERAL Marxists. But nowadays, the Republican party quite openly advertises itself as conservative.
The people have the same agenda - or at least similar ones. Only party preference has changed.
Otherwise you could point to the Southern Strategy leading the GOP to court racist conservatives, the same demographic who caused the Civil War; or that almost all major civil rights legislation post-Grant have been under Democrat administrations. Brown vs. Board of Ed was during Eisenhower’s term, but Ike:
A. Was asked to run by both parties
B. Disdained the conservative wing of the GOP
and
C. Was done by the Supreme Court, which Eisenhower had no (immediate or direct) say in.