Nope. At least not exclusively. The party's change over the years but we have essentially always had one party pushing for more direct democracy, and one party pulling against. A rose by any other name is still rose, but the philosophical idea of Republic government vs Democrat government is always there. And it's the key difference in the two parties.

>I don't see any evidence of this in modern politics. Which democrat has mentioned implementing a direct democracy?

The entire State of California is constantly riddled with ballot propositions, which is direct democracy in many case overturning the work done by their own representative legislature. And California is essentially a one party state so there is no one else to share the blame.

Federally, I can't go a week without reading about yet another proposal to eliminate the Electoral College and use a popular vote for President.

So if you're not seeing any evidence of it, where are you looking?