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It really last into the 1890s
這種政治模式延續至19世紀90年代
and it's characterized by a few things, One is very close election between the Democrats and Republicans
它有幾個明顯的特征，首先，這一時期內的大選中，兩黨支持率都非常接近
knife-edged election, very evenly divided electorate
勝負常只在一線之差，選民投票分布均勻
Not all that much difference between the parties
兩黨主張趨同
By this time, they were both essentially conservative party certainly by the standards of today but even by the standards of the time
兩黨在那個時期的主張，用當今的標準來審視，都是很保守的，即使換成當時的標準，也算保守
Wheras you remember when the Republicans began, They were often considered a radical party
你也許還記得共和黨在建黨之初被認為是一個激進的政黨
With a lot of ideas we would today associate with the left of the political spectrum
按如今的標準，它很多政見主張都是偏向左派的
But by the gilded age, most of those ideas were in abatement, were not the front-burner
然而在鍍金時代，共和黨的主張趨向溫和，其激進派頭已不見蹤影
And the Democratic party strongly associated with the south, with cultural conservatism as well
而民主黨則似乎已成了南方、文化保守主義的代名詞
It doesn't mean there were no differences
當然，兩黨也還是存在一些差異
The Democrats tended to be the party of small government
民主黨傾向支持小政府
Republicans were the party of more active government
共和黨則主張更為活躍的大政府
The Democrats wanted low tariffs
民主黨人希望減免關稅
They wanted free trade
想推行自由貿易
Republicans wanted much higher tariffs
共和黨人則提倡加重關稅
They wanted to protect US industry and they got a lot of money from industrialists because of that
以保護美國的民主產業，并從工業家手上獲得大筆財富作為回報
The Democrats pushed states' rights
民主黨人建議下放州權
Republicans were more in favor of federal power
共和黨人則傾向強化聯邦政府
Like I say in many elections, The actual platform of the party didn't have that much difference between them, but there were some underlining differences
如我所說，很多大選中兩黨的政綱并非大相徑庭，但仍有幾個顯著的區別
Which is quite the opposite to what today we would more often associated with the Democrats and Republicans
兩黨當時的主張也許與如今我們腦海中對兩黨的認識完全相反，事實上民主黨與共和黨的變化
