times change, but not really

To quote Tony Bennett, the singer:

"I grew up during the Depression and I have stayed a Democrat my whole life. My dad died when I was very young and my mother had to raise three children. She was a seamstress. She worked for a penny a dress. I could not believe the way the Hoover administration left everybody so stranded. I have never gotten over that. I know times change, but not really. I am against super greed."

The resiliency of the Republican Party just beggars belief. After 1929, they should never have outperformed the Democracy. Roosevelt and the New Deal saved the country. The US was a victor in WWII. What have the Republicans done other than resent the success of the Democracy? Then a generation later, Nixon and Watergate should have soured the country on Republicans again. Reagan was successful in a gathering of a great repeal of what FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ and the rest had achieved. Reagan was a fortunate blunderer, and was a hero to half the country. He was a disaster, and the progenitor of the great increased disparity we suffer from. bush jr is a complete disaster and usurped power for eight years, with the evil and repellant cheney next to him. Yet, the beast survives. Explain to me how? They get progressively, and continuously worse.

I have thought that this teabagger element would be fatal to the beast. How can ignorant goons succeed? That after 2016 there would not be a single effective party comparable to the size of the Democracy. Either the Republican party would transform, or there would be a splintering into separate entities.
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nota bene: I am using older terminology, "the Democracy" is a synonym for the Democratic Party. It is a usage, which should be made common again.