COLUMN: The Republican Party isn’t what it used to be
Every time I turn around I hear how the left of today is not the same as the Democratic Party and its glory of the early 20th century. Such banter has been prompted because of low quality, out of touch candidates that the left keeps drudging up. People like Sean Hannity and others then claim that these candidates are worthless when compared to their party predecessors magnificence. I strongly disagree with this idea however. The left of today is the party of yesteryear and will continue to be the dominant political party whose foundation was laid by FDR’s regime. Where the problem comes in however is that the Republican Party is not the party of its yesteryear and this alone is great cause for concern.
A little history will illustrate this point well. FDR, the founder of the modern left, was around when the federal government concocted the enormous pay as you go pyramid scheme called social security and other socialist programs. He had a hard time getting them implemented because conservatives fought tooth and nail to avoid such a mockery of the rule of law (Constitution). Time and time again his policies were brought before the Supreme Court by the conservatives of America and shut down as unconstitutional. The federal government was always seen to be overstepping its enumerated powers.
With each rejection the Court handed down the more infuriated FDR became, so to combat the rule of law, FDR threatened to “pack” the court with judges that would vote “with the times.” Miraculously the strategy of fear worked, the court shifted gears and started ruling in favor of the left and the rest was history.
How did the right react? Well with each passing election and with hungry mouths that wanted free handouts as the electors (thanks to the 17th Amendment) the right has been forced time and time again to realign itself more moderately to appeal the looter in all of us. The left has dominated politics in this fashion ever since. Abortion, gay rights and even national security have been issues that the left has used to force the right to once again realign itself and take positions on issues it would have never taken in the past. The products of such political debauchery are politicians like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who are pro-baby killing and gay right activists. Twenty years ago the right would never allowed such surrendering, then again 20 years previous to that the right would not have made the concessions their political progeny made.
The left on the other had marches successfully on toward its socialistic goal of a united world order under Big Brother’s watchful eye. Every year forcing the right to become more socialistic and “progressive,” adopting redistributionist programs like welfare (liberals out there who hate the current political administrations have themselves to blame – it is the left of 20 years ago). While those few of us who hold dear to the thread of conservative values as those immortalized in the constitution, namely of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are demonized as ignorant red-necks.
The right needs to return to the conservative principles it was originally founded to protect, explicitly that the only rule of law recognizable in the context of social discussions is the constitution. They need to stop the left from catering to every special interest minority group (such as gay right activists, pro baby killers and affirmative right activist) for political gain.
The principle of federalism must be reestablished (the states and the federal government have separate specifically enumerated powers). Policies that cannibalize our children like social security should be exposed as unconstitutional as they were once known to be. Free markets need to be reinstalled and protected.
Let America be America again and remember the values this country was founded upon are the only principles that will ensure liberty.
J.S. Westbroek is senior majoring in Law and Constitutional Studies jwestbroek@cc.usu.edu.