The Republican Party’s Tailspin into Redundancy
By: Black Intellect
Tags: Politics, Conservatives, Republican Party, Public Policy, Elections

With an increasingly reactionary attitude from right-wing media personalities, it’s become clear that American conservatives, and those remaining Republicans who coddle them, have lost the political argument. Just during my admittedly brief politically aware lifetime I’ve seen the Republican Party go from people simply disagreeing on policy issues and the proper role of government to raving ethno-nationalists attempting to resurrect a new American Gilded Age. When a political party moves, during the last 70 years, from genuine ideological discourse and disagreement to personal attacks based on bigotry and sexism, Dan Brown type global conspiracy theories, and disingenuously paranoid bloviation about an evil liberal media cabal, it’s clear that logic and reason have flown entirely out of the window.

The only question now is, ‘Why has the Republican Party moved so far, so fast, and are Republicans too far gone to ever be a legitimate political party again?’ The answer to me appears to be that many in the GOP leadership are realizing their policies are increasingly unpalatable to the general public. In addition, their small government ‘trickle-down’ economic theory, touted for decades as the only key to successful economic growth, has not borne fruit for anyone other than the economic elites in America. It has also become clear to an increasing number of Americans that simply continuously shrinking government and cutting taxes are not effective ways to improve the overall economic well-being for most people. Most of them understand that any economic growth it does achieve is unsustainable and unequal. Despite their attempt over the last year, the Republican Party can no longer simply rely on the crutch of the Cold War era fear-mongering of a ‘socialist’ threat by liberal Democrats or bigoted ‘dog whistles’ around crime and immigration to achieve electoral victory.

We’ve all witnessed, over the last generation, how the social and economic ideas of conservatives in the Republican Party have been exposed as economically ineffective and increasingly electorally unpopular. It’s, therefore, becoming harder for those on the ideological right to make their case without appearing either ill-informed or intolerant to independent voters. The result of this is the Republican leadership and conservatives pundits are ‘circling the wagons’. They are either retreating into the fantastical realm of conspiracy theories or bigoted temper tantrums and personal attacks. Ironically, these tactics then make their underlying ideology even less palatable to the growing electorate of black and brown voters. What makes this political response particularly pathetic is that, instead of adapting to the inevitable economic, social, and cultural changes brought about by globalization and shift in geopolitical power, the Republican Party has decided their best course of action is a return to the failed politics of 1920s style ethno-nationalism and anti-Semitism.

The election of Donald Trump and the phalanxes of Republican elected officials who have been willing to defend his erratic policies show that the party has forgone all perceived ideas of civility. This strategy is directly correlated to their failure to attract and expand a new base and an unwillingness to leave their old one. Currently, there does not appear to be enough Republicans in the party leadership willing to do what it takes to save the party from total electoral disaster, and those with the integrity and competence to do so are jumping ship in droves.

Ironically, had the Republican Party spent more time presenting actual policy solutions to the problems of American voters, like rising healthcare costs, climate change and stagnant wages instead of trying to reverse the effect of demographic trends, they may have found themselves with a new voter base to sustain itself. However, Republican Party’s lack of a new 21st Century vision of America, its doubling down on failed social and economic policies, and bigoted, xenophobic appeals to a shrinking electoral base have found them foundering.

The saddest part of this is the fundamental damage it’s done to American democratic values, as there are no longer two functioning political parties ideologically competing for voters. Instead, we are left with a Democratic Party that has adapted to the modern age and a rudderless Republican Party in an electoral tailspin, quickly devolving a paranoid, racial homogenous, cultish branch of Putin’s geopolitical machine.

The Republican Party hasn’t become obsolete yet (though their current trajectory doesn’t show promising signs). However, for an increasing number of Americans its unique form of conservatism, infamously popularized by the ‘southern strategy’ of the 1960s, is no longer a viable political ideology. As long as the Republican Party embraces this form of conservatism, they will continue struggling to attract young voters, and voters in communities of color.

About the Author

Xavier Jackson is political freelance politics, public policy, and urban policy writer as well as an Urban Studies undergraduate student. He formerly worked at the Trinity College Center for Urban & Global Studies in Hartford, CT.