The battle isn't always being fought in interparty electoral competition. The left-wing project to replace all traditional hierarchy with radical egalitarianism

The battle isn't always being fought in interparty electoral competition. The left-wing project to replace all traditional hierarchy with radical egalitarianism has been in motion in Western society since at least the French Revolution, with some elements appearing in the American Revolution and Protestant Reformation. The right-wing project to preserve the traditional order has been around for longer, at least since the merchant classes threatened the power of the old aristocracy. This conflict has been sometimes dominated and drowned out by more particular, parochial, and pressing disagreements. The US, and to a lesser extent, England, through liberal democracy were able to contain the jacobin forces much more than societies on the continent were. But a 100 year streak of leftist victories has basically put them on the cusp of completely eradicating the old order. Even today, a conservative's mindset has little in common with the thoughts of a monarchist from the late 18th century. Those ways of thinking have been eradicated by political force. Some have tried to revive it, but it is just a faint echo, like trying to recreate a song from a critic's review of it.