History Analysis: Political and Economic Theories Going From One Extreme To Another

Populares and Optimates, Saxons and Normans, Republicans and Democrats; Political parties have basically been around since history began, and while the definitions may have changed over time, the overall ideas haven't. There will always be two parties of people who disagree with each other. Each will have their own narrative as to why they're right, and why their enemies are wrong. Each party usually gets a turn to put their theories to the test (this is also true in science, economics, religion, and almost anything else you can think of that involves people). But over time, each party learns to hate the other. As Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels concluded in their Communist Manifesto (please keep in mind, they were literally wrong about everything else), "Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps". Basically, tension grows between two parties until war breaks out.

People literally die in these struggles for power. A great example is the Russian Revolution. The Revolution started in 1917, and ultimately lead to the execution of the imperial Romanov family on July 16th, 1918, by Marxists (yeah, thanks Karl). Russia is still recovering from the effects Marxism had on its country. Now Russia is slowly becoming Capitalist (extremely strict Capitalism, but Capitalism none the less). It's almost as if they went from one extreme to another.

The Civil War had a lot to do with political parties too. Confederates were generally Democrat, and Unions were primarily Republican. Please note: These political parties are not the same Republican and Democrat parties we have today (They have more or less swapped definitions with each other over time). Republicans back in the day essentially believed that government should have power over the states, while Democrats wanted limited government controlled by the states. The Republicans believed the narrative that Confederates were traitors to their country for wanting to leave the Union, and Confederates believed the narrative that Unions were violating their states rights by not letting them leave the Union. Both sides were correct... kind of. As a result of the Republicans (Unions) winning the war, we are now seeing the effect of having a government that's too big, leading to conservative extremists who want to literally abolish all forms of government (Ron Paul supporters) and Liberal extremists who want government intervention in almost everything.  

Do you see a pattern? After one idea goes through its cycle, it's eventually replaced with an opposite theory. It's like a clock pendulum: Back and forth, back and forth.