Social policy was in effect put in the care of the Wall Street bondholders (much as had happened in New York City earlier), with predictable consequences. The political structure that emerged was quite simple. The Republican Party could mobilize massive financial resources and mobilize its popular base to vote against its material interests on cultural/religious grounds while the Democratic Party could not afford to attend to the material needs (for example for a national health-care system) of its traditional popular base for fear of offending capitalist class interests.
