Posted by
hwalker on Thursday, February 21, 2008 5:01:04 PM
It was only a matter of time before the Republican Party split in the way that it has this election season. Traditionally, it has been the party standing on the solid stage of morals, the voice of the forgotten silent masses, shouting about the decay of American culture while vague in offering up solutions. Accompanying said plank to complete the platform was the timber if lower taxes, friendliness towards the entrepreneurial spirit and business growth, liberty and federalism. Republicans were especially able to capitalize on inherent goodness of the American people when their senses were offended by the legislation of abortion, or a “woman’s right to choose” if you find it more palatable, in 1973 following Roe vs. Wade. Appalled that life could be treated so callously in these United States of America, voters who had little to no personal interest in making life easier for the Man began flocking to the Republican party, who promised to over turn the measure and protect the morals We The People cherished. Some 35 years later, the foundation has cracked and the GOP is standing around, kicking the leaves and wondering where things went wrong.
The problem lies in what the party platform looks like and what it translates to in reality. When reading the platform, both of the above elements are represented, couched in terms like “ushering an ownership era” and “building an innovative, globally competitive economy” that includes the Republican commitment to cutting taxes while at the same time strengthening social security. At every turn, you encounter a commitment to small government amounts of government interference, backed by confidence in the American people to take care of themselves and to take care of the economy, thus taking care of each other. As we investigate the tag on the end of the platform regarding moral issues, we find that the Republican Party does stand conservatively in regards to protecting marriage between one man and one woman, in relation to the sanctity of life and in relation to family privacy and stability. This is a brief summary, but the wording of the official platform is no less vague. So far, we see consistency in what the Republican Party officially stands for.
Now, what does this look like in reality? How does the Republican Party intend to achieve “building an innovative, globally competitive economy,” and protect the moral interests of the silent majority? As we peer into the pages of legislation passed and spending bills vetoed, we find a disturbing amount of dirt that has settled into the cracks. For example, taxes have been cut, cut, cut, while social safety net programs have been funded, funded, funded. Federal funding for everything from affirmative action to military expansion to education has been approved while taxes have continued to be cut, all resulting in the undermining of local governments and strengthening the federal government. Additionally, nothing has been accomplished in the way of overturning Roe vs. Wade, funding has been approved for embryonic stem cell research, and one man, one woman as a definition for marriage has yet to become constitutional.
And why should marriage be constitutionalized? That would be a further encroachment of the Federal Government on the lives of the individual. But it goes squarely against the notion that the Republicans are the party that stands for what is moral. Certainly they give lip service to that platform, but aside from narrowly escaping the legislation of infanticide when partial birth abortion was banned, not much has really, soundly been accomplished on the front of the culture war. And the middle class who have so doggedly worked for the success of that war are being left behind in post-industrial waste lands, where local government can hardly get a toe hold and power is ever more centralized in Washington. After so much time, and seemingly wasted effort, its no wonder the electorate is beginning to abandon ship in favor of a more moderate approach to politics. This primary season has made it glaringly obvious where the hearts of the people lie, and the majority is not with the noble, but empty rhetoric of old. The party was long overdue for a significant realignment because these two ideas about restoring cultural morality and maintaining minimal government interference are fundamentally incompatible. Minimal government interference will always rule the day, however poorly it is accomplished.