A New Right

The old Republican party was compliant with Democrats’ big government wish-list

For contemporary Republicans the old Republican party was never ideological enough -- with the exception of Reagan it contentedly rejected sound public policy in favor of surviving as junior colleagues of the Democrat party.  

Electoral history was one reason for such ideological failures.

With the exception of all but 10 years Democrats maintained control of both chambers of Congress from 1930-1991. Under seemingly interminable electoral failure desperate Republicans came to view themselves as the permanent minority party.

As former Congressman William Seiger (R- WI) said in 1976 “the seemingly permanent minority status debilitates party members.”

Debilitated Republicans were particularly enfeebled when it came to a coherent political ideology.

Dwight Eisenhower, for instance, supported much of Democrats’ New Deal program — one that resulted in the permanent expansion of the federal government — as did former Republican Presidential nominee and Senator Thomas Dewey.

Likewise Republicans overwhelmingly voted for the now budget busting “Social Security” program. In 1935 only 15 Republicans — out of 102 — voted against the measure in the House while only 5 Republican Senators — out of 21 — did the same.

Clearly Republicans lacked an ideology that was distinct from Democrats’ in any meaningful way.

But that began to finally change first with the election of Reagan then later in the US House with Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America that saw a Republican takeover of the House and Senate in the 90s. Finally Republicans had succeeded in making themselves a distinct party from Democrats’ in large part because of their emphasis on fiscal responsibility.

And today Republicans are continuing their success by further highlighting the contrast between themselves and the Democrats’ preference for socialism with assistance from Democrat presidents and party extremists.

During the Obama years, for instance, we received socialist healthcare euphemistically dubbed Obamacare. 

 Under Biden -- Obama’s older socialist protege -- we received record inflation attributable to any number of his administration’s socialist giveaways. 

Likewise the Democrat party unabashedly advocates for even more extreme socialist measures.  From confiscation of private wealth, a government takeover of the energy sector, and free pre-k government supervision, the endless array of openly socialist policies advocated for by the Democrat party abound.

In other words it has become clear that the Democrat party is the socialist party -- and many enterprising Republicans in the new Republican party have capitalized and will continue to do so in the future.

But this new Republican won’t leave an enduring political legacy until they accomplish one thing -- enact policies that make our republic a republic again.  They’ve proven successful in rejecting leftist communism and socialism — now it’s time to enact a distinctly republican agenda instead of bellyaching.

Until then the Republican renaissance is a blip on the map of history and a continuation of the middle class destroying status quo.

An edit was made at 4:20PM to include more details about Republicans going along with the Democrat big government agenda.

For more commentary on Republican policy see tomorrow’s newsletter out at 8AM.

Zigmund Reichenbach holds a M.A. in Philosophy from West Chester University.  You can find him commenting on news stories of national and state interest at his Facebook page Zigmund Reichenbach -- Commentator or you can follow him on Twitter @zreichenbach1.  To support the creation of articles like these visit our Patreon here.