CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
Classical liberalism is a political ideology that advocates free market, civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on reasonable government, economic freedom, and free political system. An early notable figure of classical liberalism was John Locke. Early in development he believed in natural laws, progress, and utilitarianism. Classical liberalism is separate from social liberalism. Social liberalism assert that individuals have positive rights, such as the right to vote, the right to an education, the right to health, and other social rights.
A free market in an unregulated system of economic exchange, in which taxes, quality controls, quotas, tariffs, and other forms of centralized economic interventions by government either do not exist or are minimal. It is a system whereby the prices for goods and services are self-regulated by buyers and sellers negotiating in an open market.
EARLY HISTORY OF CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
Thomas Hobbes is considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy (early 1600s). Classical liberalism supports Hobbes that government had been created by individuals to protect themselves from each other and that the purpose of government should be to minimize conflict between individuals that would otherwise arise in a state of chaos.
Early classical liberals in Britain were for population control, because they saw the population in the 1600-1700s growing faster than food production.
In the late 1700s, Adam Smith, a Scottish economic theorist was considered the Father of Capitalism. Drawing from Smith’s theories, classical liberals believed that it is in the common interest that all individuals be able to secure their own economic self-interest. They were critical of what would come to be the idea of the welfare state as interfering in a free market.
CLASSICAL LIBERALISM BELIEFS
Classical liberals argued for what they called a minimal state, limited to the following functions:
- A government to protect individual rights and to provide services that cannot be provided in a free market.
- A common national defense to provide protection against foreign invaders.
- Laws to provide protection for citizens from wrongs committed against them by other citizens, which included protection of private property, enforcement of contracts and common law.
- Building and maintaining public institutions.
- Public works that included a stable currency, standard weights and measures, building and upkeep of roads, canals, harbors, railways, communications and postal services.
Classical liberalism believes that labor and corporations should work equally together to provide a product incentive for the buyer.
They also believe in a free market, both labor and corporate capital would receive the greatest possible reward while production would be organized efficiently to meet consumer demand. They do not believe in a pure democracy where the majority rule, without the respect for individuals and the rule of law. James Madison argued for a constitutional republic with protections for individual liberty over a pure democracy. Reasoning that in a pure democracy, a common interest will be felt by a majority of the whole and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party.
CLASSICAL LIBERALISM IN THE UNITED STATES
Classical liberalism was the foundation for the Declaration of Independence. For example, Thomas Jefferson changed John Locke’s “life, liberty and property” to the more socially liberal “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” written into the Declaration of Independence.
Classical liberalism was an early part of all the early presidents, but was especially prominent with President Andrew Jackson (1829-1837 Presidency). During this period, industry was starting to expand in America. The economic ideas of the Jacksonian era were almost universally the ideas of classical liberalism. Freedom, according to classical liberals, was maximized when the government took a “hands off” attitude toward the economy.
Democrats consisted of mostly the first 15 presidents in the United States. Classical liberalism began with President Thomas Jefferson. Although classical liberalism economics was blamed for the depressions of 1877 and 1893, the beliefs and economic policies persisted. Republicans starting in 1861 with Abraham Lincoln also endorsed classical liberalism.
Republicans mostly dominated the presidency from 1861 through 1933 when Franklin D. Roosevelt became president.
During the 1930s, the origins of modern conservatism was born with the opposition towards the New Deal of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Conservative (mostly Midwestern) Republicans and Southern Democrats united for the first time, and distinct characteristics of modern conservatism began to appear.
Classical liberalism economic policies remained the orthodox belief among American businessmen until the 1930s Great Depression. The Great Depression in the United States saw a big change in liberalism, with priority shifting from the producers to consumers. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal represented the dominance of modern liberalism in politics for decades.
With the complexity of industrial growth after the Great Depression, classical liberal economic beliefs fell to more governmental intervention to provide economic security. The US government emerged as more of a welfare state. It now had an obligation to maintain high levels of employment in the economy, to supervise standards of life and labor, to regulate the methods of business competition, and to establish comprehensive patterns of social security. As a result, the United States no longer has a free market system. Instead, the United States now has a managed economy. In fact, no country has a fully free market economy.
Rankings of economic freedom vary depending on who is doing the ranking, but some economies generally considered free-market include: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland.
[*] To learn more about free market, see Wikipedia
EARLY POLITICS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
The Republican Party is frequently referred to the as the GOP (Grand Old Party), or “Party of Lincoln,” because Abraham Lincoln was the first president of the Republican Party.
The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. The party supported English philosopher, John Locke’s classical liberalism, opposed the expansion of chattel slavery, and supported economic reform. In addition, the political ideology advocates civil liberties under the rule of law with an emphasis on economic freedom. As a term, classical liberalism was applied in retrospect to distinguish earlier 19th-century liberalism from social liberalism.
The early Republican Party consisted of northern Protestants, factory workers, professionals, businesspeople, prosperous farmers, and after 1866, former black slaves. Obviously, the party had no support from white Southerners due to their support of slavery and many were Democrats. Unfortunately, racism has persisted to today from many Southerners who are now Republican.
Prior to Abraham Lincolns’ presidency (1851-1865), all 15 presidents were Democrat, Whig, or Federalist parties. After President Lincoln came President Ulysses S. Grant, President Rutherford Hayes, President James A. Garfield, President Chester A. Arthur, President Benjamin Harrison, President William McKinley, President Theodore Roosevelt, President William Howard Taft, President Warren Harding, President Calvin Cooledge, and President Herbert Hoover who were all Republicans with the exception of four Democrats reigned until President Franklin D. Roosevelt, starting in 1933. The most progressive of all these presidents was Theodore Roosevelt.
President Theodore Roosevelts’ presidency saw the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which established the Food and Drug Administration to regulate food safety, and the Hepburn Act, which increased the regulatory power of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
President Roosevelt used his presidential authority to issue executive orders to create 150 new national forests, increasing the amount of protected land from 42 million acres to 172 million acres. The President also created five national parks, eighteen national monuments, and 51 wildlife refuges. He is the only Republican president that showed any stewardship of Earth, other than President Richard M. Nixon who established the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Water Act. The current Republicans are in denial about the environmental problems.
Classical liberalism came to an end in the Republican Party, because President Roosevelt later attacked big business, proposing a welfare state, and supporting labor unions. From 1912 to present day, the party moved to the right, becoming more conservative as classical liberalism took hold in the Democratic Party.
TWENTYTH CENTURY REPUBLICAN PARTY
After President Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency in 1912, the Republican Party underwent an ideological shift to the right. Eugen Debs originated the Socialist Party in 1901 with civil unrest and social unrest from labor. Theodore Roosevelt became sympathetic to labor, which caused fear with Republicans.
Republicans took over the White House throughout the 1920s. The largest corruption scandals took place under President Harding, called the Teapot Dome scandal involving bribery for oil drillings.
Conservatism became stronger with Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies, especially after the New Deal.
Following the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the party’s core base shifted, with Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in presidential politics. Republican conservatism was also building in the Southern states, especially among evangelical religions, forming repressive agendas.
The repressive agenda of the Republican Party was building, but the coercive reactionary behavior initiated the process by Newt Gingrich, starting in the LATE 1980s and climaxing when he was Speaker of the House of Representatives. From the 1990s, the Republicans engaged in constitutional perversion. Speaker Gingrich undermined house procedures, and norms. He polarized the parties with hateful partisan prejudice. Speaker Gingrich frequently questioned the patriotism of Democrats, called them corrupt, compared them to fascists, socialists, and communists, and accused them of wanting to destroy the United States. Did he confuse fascism with socialism?
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY REPUBLICAN PARTY
The end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century accelerated conservatism to the far-right. It began with President Reagan’s economic policies and social values. The GOP supported lower taxes, free market capitalism, restrictions on immigration, increased military spending, deregulation, elimination of abortions, and restrictions on labor unions.
Year 2000 was the beginning of the George W. Bush administration with Bush running as the compassionate conservative to attract immigrant and minority voters. During the President Bush era, Republicans advocated for increased government spending and greater regulations covering the economy affection of American’s personal lives.
Activism and interventionism in foreign policy became prominent. The New York City Twin Tower terrorism of September 11, 2001 drew the U.S. into war with Iraq, costing billions of dollars and throwing America into a huge recession. The Bush-Cheney administration came to a close in 2008 when Barack Obama won the Democratic presidency.
Social conservatism became prominent with evangelicals opposing abortion, homosexuality, same-sex marriages, embryonic stem cell research, sex before marriage, pornography, etc.
The oxymoron of the Republicans was all of the government spending during the Bush administration, prompted the organization of the Republican Tea Party opposition to big government and government spending.
The Tea Party movement has been described as a popular constitutional movement, composed of a mixture of libertarians, right-wing populists, and conservative activism. In the 2010 November elections, Republicans recaptured control of the House, increased their number of seats in the Senate and gained a majority of governorships.
The reactionary insolence of the democratic norms also persisted through the senate in the second decade of the 21st century with Mitch McConnell. As Mitch McConnell rose to power from Senate Minority Leader to Senate Majority Leader during the Obama presidency, his abuse of the filibusters and abuse of power with obstructionism reached an all-time high during the President Obama’s terms. McConnell’s abusive obstructionism went so far as to slowing the Senate’s ability to process even routine measures and limited the sheer volume of reasonable bills by the Democrats that could have been adopted.
Constitutional abuse of norms progressed to even higher levels of performance when McConnell refusal to hold hearings on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland during the final year of Obama’s presidency. As a result, we now have the most right-wing Supreme Court Justices who will destroy anything associated with progress. The bias is obvious as well as the association with conservative religious favoritism.
McConnell then became a staunch supporter of President Trump’s abuse of power throughout Trumps’ presidency. He supported all of Trump’s policies. McConnell as the second most powerful leader accelerated the Republican Party to a hateful far-right nationalist party who accepted lies, corruption, conspiracy theories, and finally violence.
The past five decades of the Republican Party have been gradually repressive, defiant, slanderous, demeaning, dishonest, non-factual, and obstructive to progress. All of these descriptions and more, are symptoms of the Republican Party over the years. As President Donald Trump came into power these symptoms became accentuated. A cancer culture has developed causing division. Although division is nothing new in United States politics, dating back to Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency. The Republican Party has gone from a party of Lincoln to a party of Trump. It has gone from social justice to social injustice; from civil rights to discrimination and human rights violations; and from integrity, honor and respect to disrespect, dishonesty, and corruption. Republicans can no longer refer to their party as the Party of Lincoln, but rather the Party of Trump.
REPUBLICAN PARTY BELIEFS PRIOR TO 2016
FISCAL AND ECONOMIC BELIEFS AND POSITIONS
The position of the Republican Party in the 21st century remained conservative. They see themselves as fiscal conservatives.
During Democratic administrations, Republicans are critical of Democrat’s spending; however, they have shown themselves willing to increase federal debt when they oversee the government (the implementation of the Bush and Trump tax cuts, Medicare Part D and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 are examples of this willingness). Defense spending (under Reagan) and going to war are other costly examples that have caused recession, which the Democrats were left to reverse. Despite pledges to roll back government spending, Republican administrations have, since the late 1960s, sustained or increased previous levels of government spending.
Republicans believe that lower taxes improves the economy. This may only occur in the short run, but is not sustainable. They believe that the rich should not be targeted with taxes, because the rich have created jobs and have arrived to the top, so why should they be punished. Apparently, a fair society is irreverent. Greed is more important than sharing. And, they support cheating on taxes, because Republican lawmakers have also sought to limit funding for tax enforcement and tax collection.
Republicans believe individuals should take responsibility for their own circumstances, ergo do not help the less fortunate in America. They believe charity should help the poor, and oppose government welfare programs. They believe government welfare programs cause dependence on the government.
Republicans over the past several decades have pushed for the private sector to operate federal programs. They believe privatization is more effective and less costly than the government in operating services. For example, the private sector should run public schools or the Veteran’s Administration Hospital healthcare system. This process is less beneficial to the end user, due to private corporations’ greed and no services.
Since the 1920s, Republicans have been against labor unions. They forget why labor unions were formed. In the late 1800s and early 1900s industrialization was growing as well as company profits. The free-market system allowed the companies to keep wages low or decrease wages; cause employees to work long hours under dangerous conditions, ergo labor unions. Since the 1920s, the Democrats have supported labor unions, which has caused a wedge between the two parties.
Republicans have been opposed to minimum wage, and believe employers should regulate wages. They are opposed to raising the minimum wage because it causes the employer to increase costs.
ENVIRONMENT POLICIES
In 1968, while taking an ecology course in college (Christian college), we learned all about the greenhouse effect on the environment. The greenhouse effect is a warming of Earth’s surface and troposphere (the lowest layer of the atmosphere) caused when solar radiation is trapped by vapor and various chemicals such as carbon dioxide, methane, and other gaseous pollutants forming a veil around the Earth, and as noted above, simply sunshine is allowed to pass through but absorb heat cannot be radiated back from the warmed surface of the Earth beyond the veil into the atmosphere. The veil serves as the glass in the greenhouse, hence greenhouse effect. If you have ever been in a greenhouse, you know how warm or hot it becomes from the sunshine.
This is the science behind global warming. It took 38 years to bring it to public attention and nearly 60 years to attempt to do anything about it with the Republicans preventing a full scale prevention of any further damage to the planet. Al Gore, Vice President under President Clinton brought global warming to our attention. He wrote a book, “The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It” was written in 2006.
Democrats based global warming or climate change on science and Republicans argued that global warming was fictional. This was especially true, since Al Gore, a Democrat, brought global warming to attention using science and facts.
To show Republican insanity, President Ricard Nixon formed the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970, plus signed the Clean Water Act and other environmental policies, and within 10 years President Reagan reversed environmental policies. Ronald Reagan, who labeled environmental regulations a burden on the economy, but spent over $160 billion on defense. Since the Reagan era, Republicans have increasingly taken positions against environmental regulation, with some Republicans rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.
The only Republican to break away from the Republican anti-climate warming stronghold was California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He signed several bills in 2006 imposing caps on carbon emissions in California.
President George W. Bush, coming from a fossil fuel oil family as well as Dick Cheney, Cice President, opposed ratification of the Kyoto Protocols, which sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions and thereby combat climate change; his position was heavily criticized by climate scientists. Had Al Gore become president instead of George W. Bush, the U.S. would have been decades ahead on the science of climate change along with environmental policies.
The only other sanity in the Republican Party was Senator John McCain. Senator John McCain proposed bills (such as the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act)) that would have regulated carbon emissions, but his position on climate change was unusual among high-ranking party members.
Many Republicans during the presidency of Barack Obama opposed his administration’s new environmental regulations, such as those on carbon emissions from coal. In particular, many Republicans supported building the oil grudge carried by the Keystone Pipeline; this position was supported by businesses, but opposed by indigenous peoples’ groups and environmental activists. Republicans were opposed to Obama’s signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Control. In addition, Republicans were wanting to increase oil production in areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a position that has drawn criticism from activists. This was the Republican denial of climate change.
IMMIGRATION POSITION
The current opposition to immigration by the Republican Party is not a new policy. From 1850 through about the 1870s, the Republican Party was opposed to immigration in the U.S. The Republicans along with the Know Nothing Party (the Know Nothing Party comprised of Native Americans and was also known as the Native American Party) opposed immigration. [One can understand why Native Americans opposed immigration, since white people almost caused their extinction.] The Republican Party was all Protestant at that time and opposed Catholic immigrants because the Protestants remembered how they were treated during the Reformation. The Native Americans simply wanted no more colonialism. Know Nothing Party, again was a slur by white colonials against Native Americans.
Of course, after the Civil War, the Republicans were all for immigration, especially craftsmen, skilled builders, and manufacturers. The immigrant laborers became more associated with Democrats, because of unions and other associated friendly policies with Democrats. By the 1970s Republicans developed opposition to immigration. However, Republicans had no problem with labor trafficking for cheap labor, i.e., Mexican labor for agriculture jobs in Arizona and California. Both areas strongly Republican.
Republicans them became divided on how to confront illegal immigration. There were Republicans who supported a policy that allowed for migrant workers a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Libertarian/populist Republican’s position focused on securing the border and deporting illegal immigrants. In the 1990s, Republican governor Pete Wilson of California tried to secure the boarders, but was unsuccessful
In 2006, President George W. Bush as a compassionate conservative president proposed and supported a Republican-led Senate passed comprehensive immigration reform that would eventually allow millions of illegal immigrants to become citizens. The House also led by Republicans did not advance the bill.
Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA) was announced by President Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. He also created the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, began accepting DACA applications in August 2012. During President Obama’s administration attempts were made to introduce citizenship for DACA children. However, the Republicans have done everything to obstruct citizenship.
President Obama’s executive actions and efforts to legalize undocumented immigrants. On November 20, 2014, in a televised address from the White House, President Barack Obama announced a program of “deferred action” which would allow roughly 45% of illegal immigrants to legally stay and work in the United States. Naturally, the Republican’s views on immigration prevented President Obama’s immigration policies.
The Republican immigration position reflected in the 2016 field of presidential candidates took a sharp position against illegal immigration, with leading candidate Donald Trump proposing building a wall along the southern border. Support for the wall was supported by a portion of Republicans; the cost of the wall was in dispute. Proposals calling for immigration reform were opposed by the Republican legislature.
FOREIGN POLICY
From the early 1900s, the Republicans have been fractionated between classical conservatives (oppose war) and neoconservatives in terms of going to war in World War I and World War II. Regardless of the political party in power, the position of the United States has been to help countries failing in democracy, terrorism against the U.S., and countries involved in genocide. Totalitarian governments such as Soviet Union and China have been perceived as threats, or any country with nuclear bomb capabilities. Russian invasion of Ukraine is a perfect example of this position to help a democratic country.
President Reagan was especially Hawkish against communism (Guatemala, Cuba, and Soviet Union). Defense spending was astronomical, to show the world our military strength. Reagan did achieve the demolition of the Berlin wall.
From the early 1900s, the Republicans have been fractionated between classical conservatives (oppose war) and neoconservatives in terms of going to war in World War I and World War II. Regardless of the political party in power, the position of the United States has been to help countries failing in democracy, terrorism against the U.S., and countries involved in genocide. Totalitarian governments such as Soviet Union and China have been perceived as threats, or any country with nuclear bomb capabilities. Russian invasion of Ukraine is a perfect example of this position to help a democratic country.
President Reagan was especially Hawkish against communism (Guatemala, Cuba, and Soviet Union). Defense spending was astronomical, to show the world our military strength. Reagan did achieve the demolition of the Berlin wall.
The Republicans have endorsed the realism theory of foreign policy. The realist school’s influence shows in Reagan’s Evil Empire stance on the Soviet Union and George W. Bush’s Axis of Evil stance.
Since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York City, Republicans have supported neoconservative (Hawks-supporters of war) policies regarding the War on Terror, including the 2001 war in Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The Republicans have supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance formed in Washington D.C. after World War II on April 4, 1949 to oppose Russia. It is an intergovernmental military alliance between 27 European countries, 2 North American countries, and 1 Eurasian country.
The Republican Party generally supports a strong alliance with Israel and efforts to secure peace in the Middle East between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Republicans have also supported independence of Hong Kong and Taiwan from China.
CIVIL RIGHTS POSITION
It should be realized that 55-65% of Republicans are white and most all of the leadership are males.
Republicans are generally against affirmative action for women and some minorities, often describing it as a “quota system” and believing that it is not meritocratic.
They believe that it is counter-productive socially by only further promoting discrimination. Republicans support race-neutral admissions policies in universities, but support considering the socioeconomic status of the student.
GUN RIGHT POSITION
Republicans generally support gun ownership rights and oppose laws regulating guns. Republicans own twice as many guns than Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a special interest group with over 5 million dues-paying members for gun owners in support of gun ownership. The NRA has consistently aligned itself with the Republican Party. The NRA has its own lobbyists who pay Republican legislators. Following gun control measures under the Clinton administration, such as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, the Republicans allied with the NRA to create the Republican Revolution. Since then, the NRA has consistently backed Republican’s opposition to any gun control laws.
There have been 100s of school shootings in the U.S. and the NRA along with the Republicans have blocked every legislative bill to control gun violence. List of school shootings:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school_shootings_in_the_United_States
REPUBLICAN PARTY BELIEFS SINCE 2016
Donald Trump ran for president of the United States in 2016 based on a successful businessperson. Everyone believed his success despite six bankruptcies. He also was a reality show star on “The Apprentice” and Republicans love to support movie stars and TV stars. He had these large rallies in which he rambled about nothing important for hours with very little discussion on policies, but Republicans showed-up by the thousands.
There were several Republican candidates who also ran at the same time, and during debates he belittled each one. He ran against Sec. Hilary Clinton who won the popular vote by over 3 million votes, but again, the unfairness of the U.S. Electoral College announced him as president. The party of religious morality did not care about his extramarital affairs, rapes, and sex with pornography stars. Evangelicals will forgive anyone no matter the immoral act, and especially when they support their agenda. His inauguration on January 20, 2017 was an unfortunate event with misappropriation of funds in the millions, still unaccounted.
His cabinet was made-up of right and far fight-wing people. He had white supremacists in the White House, such as Steve Miller, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn. Many good people resigned. However, hundreds of personnel in government were fired or left before being fired. Trump learned how to say, “You’re fired” on The Apprentice. He hated liberals and loved those who were loyal.
Trump was not directly involved with the Russians regarding his election in 2016, but a number of people around him were involved, including his son Donald Jr. The Special Counsel investigation by Robert Mueller (2017-2019) regarding the election interference by Russia did not establish that to be true. However, several members of the Trump campaign and NRA conspired or coordinated with the Russian government, and went to prison. There was also obstructions of justice that occurred during the course of that investigation.
FOREIGN POLICIES
President Trump’s foreign policies were a complete disaster. Trump’s “America First” foreign policy was characterized by unilateral actions, disregarding traditional allies and treaties with foreign countries. For example, he attempted to pull-out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). President Trump blamed European countries for not paying their fair-share of money into NATO. Most likely, this was an excuse to help his Russian counterpart Putin dissolve NATO.
As noted earlier, NATO is an intergovernmental military alliance between 27 European countries, 2 North American countries, and 1 Eurasian country to protect democracy, militarily if needed. In retrospect, his friendship with Vladimir Putin President of Russia. President Putin wants to dissolve NATO, which he interprets as a threat to Russia. However, since his invasion of Ukraine, he has learned the strength of NATO. This has been a war of good against evil and Donald Trump should get the hint.
On December 11, 2019, the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee passed a bill to be put in front of Congress which would require Congressional approval for American withdrawal from NATO. President Trump pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, also known as the Iran Nuclear Dear created by President Obama’s administration along with European countries to prevent Iran from creating a nuclear bomb. In the Iranian Nuclear Deal, the Iran’s uranium stockpile will be reduced by 98% to 300 kg (660 lbs.) for 15 years. The level of enrichment must also remain at 3.67%. Iran will retain no more than 6,104 out of almost 20,000 centrifuges it possesses. Trump’s answer in pulling out of the deal was to place more economic sanctions on Iran. This only creates more hatred by the Iranians and they can now form the nuclear bomb. Another poor, very bad policy.
To make things a bit more unstable in the Middle East, his administration implemented a major arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
Trump wanted to make America First by eliminating alliances, but when it came to the G7, he wanted to be actively involved, especially to the point of having America host the G7 at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort. The G7 provides global leadership and plays a powerful catalyst role on issues that are later taken up by others with broader global and regional membership. The G7 brings together the world’s advanced economies to influence global trends and tackle pervasive and crosscutting issues. The G7 made him look important. He also wanted to introduce his Russian friend President Putin back into G7. The G7 was the G8 with Russia being admitted in 1994, but lost its membership in 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Trump attempted to pressure Ukraine to announce investigations into his political rival Joe Biden, triggering his first impeachment by the House of Representatives on December 18, 2019, but he was acquitted by the Senate by the Republicans on February 5, 2020.
DOMESTIC POLICIES
Despite the facts that Donald J. Trump is dishonest, corrupt, dispassionate, exudes hatred and racism and is a cheater – all the features a religious person would consider a sinner; the evangelical Christians adore him. He could commit all the sins and evil he wants as long as he supports the right-wing evangelical agenda: pro-life, Christian nationalism, prayer in schools, tax-free religious charter schools, etc.
Trump’s racism was apparent before he even ran for presidency with his brotherism conspiracy statement that President Obama was born in Africa and therefore not American citizen (therefore could not be president of the U.S.).
President Trump showed his association with white supremacy during his rallies when he preached to his supporters about taking “America back again!” This meant that white people should totally take over America, and drive out all minorities. His obvious association was when he refused to explicitly condemn white supremacist groups during the first 2020 presidential debate.
When the 2020 presidential debate moderator, Chris Wallace asked Trump if he would condemn white supremacy, Trump gave a rallying cry to a far-right extremist group who engaged in violence- “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by! But I will tell you what, somebody has got to do something about antifa and the left,” [antifa stands for anti-fascism. They are not violent and not far-left. They only bring attention to the alt-right’s rallies and violence.
President Trump’s association with white supremacy and Neo-Nazism did not stop with Steve Bannon and Steve Miller, both know as white supremacists, but extended to others.
Richard Bertrand Spencer is an American neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist, and speaker for the alt-right movement. He is a supporter of George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party.
After Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, Spencer urged his supporters to “party like its 1933,” the year Hitler came to power in Germany. In the weeks following, at a conference Spencer held celebrating the Trump election, Spencer cried: “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!.”
Spencer was the leader of the white supremacist rally held in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heather Heyer who was protesting their rally, was intentionally killed when hit by a supremacist’s car. President had no remorse and welcomed the rally.
David Duke, the former KKK grand wizard, was an enthusiastic supporter of Trump as far back as the Republican primary in 2016. Duke has remained a faithful Trump supporter since then, insisting that the president-elect’s policies line up with the former KKK leader’s vision for America. He has made it clear that the alt-right voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back.
Trump had no remorse over the mass shootings by white supremacists who killed innocent Hispanics in El Paso Texas, and Gilroy California. No comments or empathy for the Jewish people killed in a Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Synagogue.
His immigration policies aligned with the white supremacist alt-right’s xenophobia and anti-immigration agenda. Trump’s Islamophobia started with his prevention of Muslims to immigrate to the U.S. The U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals Court overturned his executive order. His obsession with a southern boarder wall was expensive and stupid, because a wall would not prevent Central and South Americans from crossing over to the U.S. He implemented a controversial family separation policy for migrants apprehended at the U.S.–Mexico border. His enactment of evil separated children from parents without any form of tracking the two and placing the children in cages. This was done, supported by the Republicans, to send a message to future migrants to stop crossing the border.
Trump reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored, or contradicted many recommendations from health officials from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in his messaging. He promoted misinformation about unproven treatments, such as hydroxychloroquine. He lied about the availability of testing. He called the COVID-19 vaccine program “Operation Warp speed,” which caused fear about the safety of the vaccine, because of the speed at which the vaccine was developed, possibly causing bad adverse reactions. This prevented people from vaccinations, only initially 20% of the population was vaccinated. People did not want to wear masks or become vaccinated because of their loss of freedom and the fact Trump was not supportive of prevention. More incredible misinformation was for the anchors on the FOX Cable News to tell everyone NOT to get vaccinated. This led to numerous deaths of Republicans who watch FOX New. Over 500,000 Americans died under his administration. He made it extremely difficult for Americans to get vaccinated. When President Biden took office, Biden persevered with Democratic states having as high as 90% Americans vaccinated, and Republican states less than 40% vaccinated and with a higher death rate. Republicans did not seem to care that their constituents were dying.
Before the 2020 election, Trump was preparing his base of Republicans that the election was going to be rigged and the Democrats would steal the election fraudulently. To talk about a rigged election, Trump’s election was probably the most rigid election in the U.S. ever.
He and the Republican Party cannot accept the fact that many decent Republicans voted for Joe Biden than for Trump, because they wanted to vote for a respectable human being.
Following his loss in the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, Trump refused to concede and initiated an extensive campaign to illegally overturn the election. This included filing false claims in Georgia and creating fake Electoral College certifications. He attempted to obtain state voting machines. His attorney, Rudy Giuliani made false claims of widespread electoral fraud by seeking courts to investigate. They tried to get states to do recounts after the election. Arizona Republican legislature hired Cyber Ninja group to do a recount, which found Biden had even more votes than originally noted. What a waste of time and money! Little did Trump know that the reason Joe Biden won the presidency was because many Republicans voted for Biden.
On January 6, 2021, during a rally at The Ellipse (the park south of the White House), Trump urged his supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the Capitol, where the electoral votes were being counted by Congress in order to formalize Biden’s presidential victory. A mob of Trump supporters, the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and others, stormed the Capitol,
Suspending the count and causing Vice President Mike Pence and other members of Congress to be evacuated. They injured Capitol police officer and attempted to kill Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. This was not only insurrection, but also a coup.
On January 13, the House voted to impeach Trump an unprecedented second time for “incitement of insurrection,’ but he was later acquitted by the Senate again on February 13, after he had already left office.
President Trump was not a symptom of the Republican Party, because the Republican Party was on a path to autocracy and fascism for decades and especially since the Tea Party. President Trump became the autocrat of the Republican Party and its nationalistic right-wing agenda.
Definition of fascism is in order:
Fascism- 1. An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. 2. (in general use) extreme authoritarian, oppressive, or intolerant views or practices.
Fascism totally opposes democracy. The Republicans want to use totalitarianism to form their fascist system by totally controlling the outcome of voting or by preventing certain people from voting. This is another technique of fascism, which opposes democracy.
By definition: Democracy- A system of government by the entire population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives.
The question presented to the Republican Party, “Do Republicans want America to proceed in the direction of Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, and current Romania?” Or do the Republicans want to support a democracy. If so, significant changes must be made, one of which is denouncing Donald J. Trump.
Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act, reversed numerous environmental regulations, and withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change. He attempted to eliminate any agency researching climate change. This included the United Stated Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency. He wanted to eliminate all media outlets except FOX Cable News. All of these programs are part of a democracy. Eliminating programs is the action of fascist autocrats.
Trump and Mitch McConnell successfully appointed right-wing conservatives, Neal Gorsuch, Bret Kavanagh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. When Bret Kavanagh was confirmed in the Senate, the Republicans were upset with how the Democrats treated Bret. But, they only asked him hard question, in which he got frustrated and over reacted. Nevertheless, he did not have the credentials to be a Supreme Court Justice, other than being a white privileged extreme conservative. When President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson came up for vote and passed 53 to 47, all of the Republicans showed complete disrespect and walked out except for one REAL Republican Mitt Romney.
FISCAL POLIICES
Trumps’ fiscal policies were mostly a disaster. In economic policy, he partially repealed the Dodd-Frank Act. The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (commonly referred to as Dodd–Frank) is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010. The CFPB was charged with protecting consumers against abuses related to credit cards, mortgages, and other financial products.
Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 allows a tax credit for employers that provide paid family and medical leave to employees.
Trump enacted tariffs, triggering retaliatory tariffs from China, Canada, Mexico, and the EU. He withdrew from the Trans-Pacific negotiations and signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a successor agreement to NAFTA. The USMXA was the only positive policy he signed. The federal deficit increased under Trump due to spending increases and tax cuts.
The Republicans were always opposed to the Affordable Care Act by President Obama. Trump was unsuccessful in his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He nor the Republicans had a better solution to providing healthcare to the poor in America. Trump sought substantial spending cuts to major welfare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
SUMMARY
The Republicans have come from a respectable classic liberal party of the 1850s and 60s to an autocratic fascist party of today. It has gone from a Grand Old Party to a Grand Nefarious Party. Our purpose has been to bring attention to the negative progression of the party and promote a return to the Party of Lincoln and the Grand Old Party. It should be a party of coming together, ignore grid-lock and make America great for the future, not aging, unless returning to the 1850s, making it great again.