By that logic, FDR was so far left he broke the scale! In the… 30s.

And yet he was considered then (and now) as less socialist / more politically to the right than many leaders in Europe at the time.

He was our most progressive president, and certainly further left than any US president since, but even he wasn’t “far left.” And certainly the neoliberal gerontocracy that dominates the current democratic party is nowhere near as left as he was.

I don't agree with his theory, but I also don't think it's a coincidence his "history" only extends back so far.

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

I encourage you to test it out. Ask people:

What is your favorite decade?

What political party were you associated with IN that decade - be honest?

What political party are you now?

I think you're commenting on real trends (economic and political) in the ongoing post-Reaganomics/post-Thatcherism era

However, you greatly overstate your case by saying that an individual person's politics can be "revealed" "just" based on that alone, or that the difference between parties is "just" equivalent to two decades.

A road grader is a wonderful machine, just don't try using it as a scalpel. :)

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/706889

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/wbna46057552

You can literally just compare platforms to parties in other industrialized democracies to figure this out. The democrats would be firmly center-right with centrist social positions anywhere else.

Can you explain why 1980 Democrats were far right?

1980 democrats were left back in 1980, in 2022 they are far right republicans

If 2022 democrats are far right republicans, what are 2022 republicans?

2022 democrats are far left not far right.

for 2020 republicans, just shift 2, they're just moderates

Can you explain why Joe Biden is far left? I’m curious.

Then there is this Jan 6th thing...

Nazis \s

You joke but you are not wrong. One could argue actually they were nazis before that.

Repubs and dems switched platforms awhile back though. People need to read up on the dixiecrats. Nixon turned them back into republicans though.

They weren't. The alt-right seeks to erase distinctions so all things mean whatever they want at the moment.

Except the Democrats have never been close to "far left." Outside of the hyperbolic fear-mongering of Republicans calling everyone and everything outside of their party Marxist, The Dems are barely even recognizable as left-wing anywhere in the world. They're only "leftist" in that they're center-right compared to the Republicans far-right.

The Dems are not as left economically, but socially I would say they're left of even the Left Party in Sweden (formerly known as the Communists). The pronoun trend, white guilt, critical race theory all started in the US and are still less of a thing here. Since 2015 there's been the neutral pronoun ("hen" vs han (he) and hon (she)), but AFAIK that was more about gender equality at the time, not trans issues.

The Republican party progressive and the Democratic party is incredibly progressive. We do not have anything resembling a regressive party in the USA in any real sense.

In what way is the Republican party progressive? They're so categorically anti-progressive, they use the term as a pejorative.

The Republican party has yielded on basically every issue in living memory. They're the Democratic party with a built-in time delay. They only exist to bring up the rear of what is acceptable in the Overton window, not promote any policy of their own.

If you want examples The Republicans fought the New Deal hard and then dropped it. The Republicans fought the Great Society and then dropped it. The Republicans fought gay marriage every step of the way and now recently have members voting for the Respect for Marriage Act.

They don't present policy, they just fight progress de jour until it is time to move to the next thing that needs opposition.

They bow to popular opinion. They use wedge issues to maintain power and control which is what it is about. That and grifting.