"Republicans will uphold and defend our party principles: Constrain the Federal government to its legitimate Constitutional functions. Unleash the enterprise, innovation, and civic energy of the American Spirit --- and never pretend that the government is a substitute for family or community."
---Republican Party Platform [1]
It is the nature of politics to do what one believes is best for the country, and acquainting these principles to identify the stance of a party is important to sharing your opinion abroad. Holding one to these standards 100% of the time is unreasonable, for situations change; many circumstances require unique solutions, after all, there is and never will be a political platform panacea. Nevertheless, when the standards at hand aren't upheld, and merely used as a connection to some distant moral truth or powerful political figure, they simply build animosity and hatred. The Republican Party has been inaccurately portraying its position on constitutional issues through fear, and abuse American ignorance simply to gain support.
The most conspicuous evidence of this is found in the Tea Party. Claiming to "stand with [their] founders..." by adopting the name of the Revolutionary Boston Tea Party, implying a connection between something regarded by the American public as a good thing, is a misnomer.[2] Reviving ideas of revolution aside, many Republicans (including Tea Partiers) think that the Founders wanted small national government with high investment in country's infrastructure and technology. However, they fail to admit that these two were not typically found in all the Founding Fathers, and that George Washington in particular, was partial towards a large government.[3]
It seems whenever someone disagrees with Republicans, they fall back on this part of their platform, as the leaders of moral values and holding up the constitution, however their claims never seem to be backed with anything but their own words. They talk as if they're right, yet ignore facts and use fear inducing words such as "socialism" or "Nazis" to create a sense of fear in the community. No one has amplified this fear more than Jon Stewart in his Rally to Restore Sanity and his foil, Stephen Colbert, with his March to Keep Fear Alive. Consistently people like Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or Fox News make claims that do nothing to support the country or educate the people, but kindle hatred and resentment for opposition; they continue to use terms like this to demean their enemies, however, when terms like that are applied to themselves, they create a huge ruckus (this can be found here, however it does contain some harsh language and content). It seems that no one can be right but their own, and even when they contradict themselves.
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Republicans claim that they support the Constitution, yet reject many bills put forth by Democrats when the constitutionality is questionable (several listed here), yet propose a bills (found here, or here) that are DIRECT violations. This Arizona Bill refuses a birth certificate to those born in the United States to an illegal immigrant, and the Patriot Act which prohibits government invasion of privacy. This unusual fear towards illegal immigrants or hidden terrorists drives the Republican party towards a Constitutional destruction. One can easily say "these laws aren't how they should be now so we must change them," and that is avoid the main issue. The fact is that Republicans must either accept that the Constitution is a living document and needs to be amended as times change or that their supporting a stronger Federal Government and leaving the Constitution the way it is right now.
Now, I do not claim that in certain circumstances that the Democratic Party is completely innocent of this as well. I do, be it as it may, assert that in spite of "grass-roots" efforts from social movements like the Tea Party, the Republican Party continues to widen the gap between them and the Democrats. Promises to vote down anything that they don't completely agree with exclaim a desire to be as partisan as possible. [4] I fail to see how Republicans can claim to have the same values as the Founding Fathers in bringing this country forward, yet refuse to work with the other side and compromise for the benefit of the nation and all its citizens and residents. [2] The Republicans stance on the constitutional values holds no weight in comparison to their actual practices and motives, and is simply a tactic for gaining support rather than establishing a stronger union.
James Evan Woods
[1] http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/2008platform.pdf (page 15 of the book, page 22 in the PDF)
[2] http://www.teapartypatriots.org/Mission.aspx
[3] Chambers, Political Parties in a New Nation (1963) - cited from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Party
[4] http://ca.news.yahoo.com/republicans-vow-block-obamas-climate-change-policies-20110209-110345-122.html
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