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(1944) [MARC] Author: Gunnar Myrdal
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Note: Gunnar Myrdal died in 1987, less than 70 years ago. Therefore, this work is protected by copyright, restricting your legal rights to reproduce it. However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now. Read more about copyright.

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Chapter 23, Trends and Possibilities 51 i
With the vanishing of the frontier, the bar against new immigration,
the proceeding Americanization, the growth of labor organizations, and
other factors of structural change, the American party system has for a con-
siderable time been headed for a rather fundamental change. During the
Roosevelt administration, cleavage .seemed to develop within both parties
which made for a closer correspondence of party alignment to real interests
and ideals. The present War might, of course, inaugurate unforeseen new
trends. But extrapolating the trends during the ’thirties and assuming no
successful new third party movement, the present author has been inclined
to envisage such a reorganization of the two-party system that one of the
two parties carrying on the tradition of the New Deal becomes a liberal
reform party, while the other remains a conservative party
If we assume that such a new system will materialize, it seems fairly cer-
tain that the great majority of Negroes are going to adhere to the liberal
party, provided it be consistently liberal with respect to the Negro problem
and manifests its liberalism not only in words but also in deeds. By becom-
ing less fluid politically, the Negro voters would undoubtedly lose some of
their bargaining power. But as the cause for their greater party loyalty
would be that the party of their choice actually was more liberal, this would
not be a real loss. Also, Negro fluidity would not be completely lost, since
there will probably never be a return to that type of sentimentality which
characterized the Negro’s adherence to the Republican party from the Civil
War until the New Deal, and since the Conservative party will not ignore
the Negro’s vote completely, and the Liberal party will realize that it can
lose the Negro vote. If this realignment of the American party system
should emerge, many Negro politicans would be released from the dilemma
of double loyalty to the party and to the Negro group. This would remove
to a certain extent one of the fundamental causes of political cynicism and
corruption among Negro politicians.
Generally speaking, a development of the type here envisaged would,
in the present writer’s opinion, enhance efficiency and honesty in American
politics. The causes of incompetency and corruption are many and varied.^
But I believe that they have much more to do, than is generally understood,
with the system of political parties entirely disconnected from the broad
‘The impediments in the way of such a development are not overlooked, (i) The Demo-
cratic party is not likely to develop into a consistently liberal party without endangering
its monopoly over the South. We should not deceive ourselves that the South has suddenly
become progressive because the Southerners are Democrats, and the Democratic party is
progressive under the leadership of Roosevelt. There is no doubt that the fact that the
Democratic party is so largely Southern has served as a kind of brake on its progressivisra
in national politics. The rapid run of change in the South (see Chapter 21, Section 4)
might bring a split of the party in the South. (2) Just as there are conservative Democrats,
there are progressive Republicans. But even conservative Republicans are not willing to
allow their party to play the role of a conservative party.

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