by Patrick J. Buchanan – September 4, 1998

Since the Great Depression destroyed the Republican coalition forged by the Harding-Coolidge tax cuts and immigration reforms, only twice has the GOP put together a great governing majority — Richard Nixon’s 49-state sweep in 1972 and Ronald Reagan’s 49-state sweep in 1984.

In the last two presidential elections, the GOP share of the vote was the smallest sliver since Alf Landon’s heyday in 1936 — 37 percent and 41 percent. Who left the GOP? Reagan Democrats — in the millions.