alternatehistory.com

The overthrow of the Bourbon Democrats and Cleveland faction was something that was instrumental in US history in ensuring the two party system would survive long term.

The Democratic party was firmly taken control of by its agrarian populist wing in the 1896 Convention, with William Jennings Bryan being nominated after giving his famous Cross of Gold Speech.

But what if Jennings did not give that speech?

Or what if the cause of bimetallism was, through good ol' convention shenanigans, taken up on the national level not by a popular man like Bryan, but rather by Pitchfork Ben Tillman, a notorious populist racist from South Carolina, who was hated by vast sections of the country. Maybe, this could come about from having Tillman be the only pro-silver man to speak.

The Bourbons were unpopular and hated by much of the party. They were seen as borderline illegitimate, having relied on Classically Liberal Republicans disgusted with the GOP's 1880s corruption to gain power. It seems to me that they were on their way out.

But a less resurgent Democratic bimetallist movement may have deep reaching consequences, particularly for the Western Regionalist Populist Party, and any others that may come afterwards.

Basically, do you see it possible for third parties to survive because the Democrats drop the ball with Western voters in 1896?
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