[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by icomeanon6

Uh, that's the plot of the Civil War. Lincoln was actually the first Republican president. Back then the Democratic party was basically the party of the south. Since then, the Democratic party has changed dramatically, while the Republican party has changed much less, hence an emphasis on traditional values and (comparatively) limited government. In general, Republicans have been intensely patriotic for a long time, and the vast majority of rank-and-file members are much less secessionist than a lot of people think. A lot of republicans I know (mostly ones with more northern heritages) are vehemently anti-secession.

Remember, everyone: we're talking about a few tens of thousands of people on the internet signing provocative petitions after a very emotionally charged election. This isn't a big deal, and there is ZERO chance that any state legislatures are going to consider secession for a long time to come. Let's all chill a bit.

EDIT:

I'm sure someone's going to say that sometime around the Civil Rights movement the parties basically traded names, but the reality was much more complicated.

I left out a few words, in modern times. And, also, they didn't threaten to succeed. They actually did.