When did the political parties become so divided?

In the 1924 election, both Pres. Coolidge and Davis were both fairly similar in stance, and it was only minor differences. Both believed in lower taxes, laissez-faire capitalism, and isolationism. Today you have people like Michelle Bachman who is so far to the right I dont know how people could vote for her, and you have people like John Kerry and George Soros who absolutely despise the way are country is run, and Soros, not so much Kerry, wants to see Capitalism die. I dont ever remember teachers making death threats on state senators (http://www.therightperspective.org/2011/04/02/liberal-charged-with-sending-death-threats-to-republicans/). Why are people getting so radical all of a sudden. I never heard of Mario Cuomo, or Bill Clinton, or Bob Dole talk about such drastic changes. Why do they see fit to use violence and **** over everyone else to make a point? As an example, I am a high school student, and 2 of my teachers have gone to Wisconsin to protest for bargaining rights (which is for gov't employees, and even FDR's Wagner Act did not allow collective bargaining for gov't workers because there was a conflict of interest) and are basically screwing over all of their students. Maybe in the 1960's it was bad, but between JFK, MLK, Bobby Kennedy, and a whole slew of others being assassinated and the war it was to be expected. When did the world go to ****?