You're failing at your own country's history, because instead of studying history objectively (something easier to do when being an outside observer, this works at a personal level too, there are things of ourselves that others can see better than us, because we hold mirrors to each other and.., I mean yeah, I shouldn't be explaining this basic shit to a grown ass man, but here we are...), you believe an idealized version, a mythical past without nuances.
The ideological switch happened over a long period of time from the late 1800's to the earliest part of the following century.
It didn't happen overnight, and it was about more, much much more than just a debate of small vs big government, and/or local vs federal authorities, how they relate to each other, etc..., which is the kind of thing every nation that wants to work its territorial divisions and their local administration, specially a newborn one like the US, more so with such a vast territory.
"Republicans dissatisfied with Radical Republican President Ulysses S. Grant formed the Liberal Republican Party for the 1872 presidential election, and many of these Liberal Republicans later joined the Democratic Party. After the end of Reconstruction the Republican Party generally dominated the North, while a resurgent Democratic Party dominated the South."
If you really think you can reduce the history of the Great Party Switch to a big vs small government, then you have no right to talk about history and being taken seriously.
You're not less American for not knowing your history tho, you're less American for pushing lies, a traitor.
Can you stop trying to start an insurrection? You've taken quite seriously to support a bunch of slave owners and TRAITORS.