There is a lot of handwringing in Republican circles these days. How could someone like Donald J. Trump end up as the nominee? Why is there so much tension within the party? Here is a hint: what used to be known as “the party of Lincoln” is now touted as “the party of Reagan”. Thirty years ago, the Republican party sold its birthright for a mess of pottage. It abandoned Republican principles for a set of half-baked ideas that are fundamentally and profoundly un-American. That, more than any other reason, is why the Republican party finds itself on the brink. At the core are four really bad ideas.
“Government is the problem.” What may have started out as a political line to lead the simple-minded astray has become the cornerstone of Reaganism. Under the Constitution and the American system of government, government has always been “We the People.” When we refer to the government as “them,” we abdicate responsibility for what government does, and blame others for our own failures.
As a result, we no longer have two political parties offering competing solutions, since one party believes that the government cannot solve problems. Because government is evil and corrupting, the Republican Party finds itself turning, more and more, to outsiders. Lack of experience in government has actually become a positive factor, if not a prerequisite, for someone who wants to run for president as a Republican. Is it surprising that we find a downward curve in Republican candidates, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Sarah Palin to Donald Trump?
“I am paying for this microphone.” This one also started out as a political line, a line that, perhaps more than any other, made Ronald Reagan president. But the unspoken corollary is that if you can’t afford a microphone, you don’t get heard. And so, Donald Trump mocks Bernie Sanders as someone who “can’t even defend his microphone,” as though a microphone is something that needs to be defended. It is a short jump from “I am paying for this microphone” to “only rich people get to be heard” to the decision in Citizens United. There is a widespread belief that money has too much influence in politics, but as long as microphones are only available to the highest bidder, the problem will never be solved.
Tax cuts and deregulation solve all economic problems. Every Republican president and presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan has made tax cuts the cornerstone of his or her economic policy, if not the entire policy. The current view is that whether the economy is strong, weak, or dying, the only medicine is a tax cut. (Note: This illustrates that what I am calling “Reaganism” actually has little to do with the actual policies of Ronald Reagan, who had no problem raising taxes when he felt it was the appropriate thing to do. Reaganism is not a set of beliefs held by Ronald Reagan, rather it is beliefs held by those who idolize Ronald Reagan.) Under current Reaganite ideology, taxes are to be cut even if the result is huge budget deficits, and a growing national debt.
As with tax cuts, a fervent belief in the power of deregulation is a key part of the Reaganite creed. Someone needs to ask: When was this idyllic time when government did not interfere with the market, so that the market could do its job of creating peace and prosperity? Thirty years on, I still have not heard an answer.
A strong leader and a big military budget solve all foreign policy problems. Since Reagan, Republicans have sounded the refrain that Republicans are strong and Democrats are weak. So George W. Bush, with three years, more or less, in the National Guard, was clearly stronger than John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. Once again, we are dealing with the myth of Reagan, whose major military accomplishment was the invasion of Granada.
The Republican account of the end of the Cold War and the defeat of the Soviet Union gives no credit to Lech Walensa, or Pope John Paul II, or the Marshall Plan, or Richard Nixon, or Mikhail Gorbachev, or protest movements behind the Iron Curtain. No, the Evil Empire was defeated when Reagan’s mighty voice roared “Tear down this wall!” and the Berlin Wall collapsed out of sheer fright.
Worship of the strong leader has been the key to Republican foreign policy ever since. So we have George W. Bush saying “Bring It on!”, John McCain with “Bomb, bomb Iran”. Is it any wonder that blustering, Vladimir Putin-admiring Donald Trump, with zero foreign policy experience, and less wisdom about the world, appeals to Republican voters?
There was a time when the Republican party stood for fiscal restraint, not budget deficits; for restraint in foreign policy, not costly invasions of countries who pose no threat to us; and for civil rights, not voter suppression. The Republican party has lost its way. Its survival depends on finding it again. That search should begin with a rejection of the profoundly un-American ideas advanced under the flag of Reaganism.
