| Conservative | Not conservative | Conclusion |
|---|
| FOREIGN POLICY. The Republican Party still remains a very conservative party with regards to foreign policy and this was fuelled by the revival of neo conservative activism during the Bush administration and these sentiments are still very much active within the party today. Conservatives have a realist approach to foreign policy in which they only intervene when American interests are threatened. This is still seen today among the Republican Party’s criticism of the Obama administration slow approach to the threat of the Islamic State in the Middle East. The GOP are in agreement on how to deal with ISIS – while some such as Rick Santorum are suggesting deploying 10,000 ground troops others believe that air strikes should be intensified, so although there may be different strategies – overall the party remains conservative in that they agree that intervention in the middle east is still needed. Similarly, Conservatives continue to support the renewal of the PATRIOT Act, which they agree is necessary to keep American lives safe. | In the aftermath of the Edward Snowden leaks on the mass data collection programmes being conducted by the NSA some Republican figures have spoken out against it – most notably Rand Paul who launched somewhat of a filibuster lasting 10 hours to delay its renewal and has promised that he will delay the bill as much as possible. Paul has also been a strong opponent of drone strikes – which Republicans strongly support – whereby he filibustered the appointment of John O. Brennan as CIA director to raise awareness on the issue of drone strikes. With the emergence of ISIS the GOP have become increasingly blamed for it’s creation by invading Iraq back in 2003 which destabilized the country and paved the way for ISIS – as a result, the Iraq war still casts its long shadow over the Republican Party and they’ve become increasingly war wary as seen from the fact that in 2013 they voted against military action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. | Rand Paul seems to be the only one with such strong opposition to the PATRIOT Act, and overall the Republican party remains very in favour of it as well as the leadership in the Senate – Mitch McConnell has been pushing for the GOP to vote for the renewal of the Patriot Act since the GOP dominated House has already passed it. |
| TEA PARTY. Under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s the Republican were established as a fiscally conservative party and such sentiments remain strong within the party to this day. The underlying belief of fiscal conservatives is to greatly reduce government spending and cut back in taxation as well as achieve a balanced budget – the emergence of the Tea Party in recent years has further reinforced these sentiments and therefore the GOP remain a fiscally conservative party. The Republicans ‘conservative’ stance is perhaps most evident from their opposition to Obamacare, which ultimately requires high taxation and GOP opposition intensified to a point where in 2013 there was a shutdown by the Tea Party. Further evidence that the GOP remain a conservative party is seen by the 2015 budget which was approved by the GOP dominated Congress, proposing $5.3 trillion in spending cuts and a balanced budget (first time since 2001), which will make it easier to scrap Obamacare. They opposed Obama’s Stimulus Package in 2009. | However, the GOP have been criticised for not being conservative enough. For instance, during the Bush era public expenditure went up incredibly as a result of No Child Left Behind. The GOP also agreed to tax hikes in 2013. The 2015 budget has been criticised for two of the most fiscally conservative members – Ted Cruz + Rand Paul – as not going far enough as the budget also proposed $38 billion being pumped into the defence budget, thus undoing previous fiscal achievements in 2013 when significant cuts were made to the defence budget. Arguably moderate sentiments within the Republican party remain strong. | The days of compassionate conservatism from the Bush era are over and the party’s fiscally conservative principles have been reinforced by the emergence of the Tea Party movement. Tax hikes were agreed upon in 2013 to end the shutdown. The 2015 budge is as fiscal as fiscal gets – its massive spending cuts and aims to repeal Obamacare epitomise the very fact that the GOP remain a very conservative party. +John Boehner banned earmarks in the House which is seen as wasteful spending by fiscal Conservativism. |
| SOCIAL ISSUES. Under Reagan the Republican party also became an established socially conservative party and such sentiments are still seen today by their opposition to things like gay marriage and abortion rights. The Republicans, whose core supporters and members are typically Evangelical Christians want to promote traditional family values and the ‘nuclear family’. There have been recent attempts in the House to pass a bill to instruct doctors performing late term abortions to ensure the best survival of the foetus which is all a part of larger attempts by the Republicans to ban abortions starting at the 11th week of pregnancy. Moreover, Republicans continue to strongly oppose gay marriage. | As Bill O’Reilly from Fox News made it clear in May – ‘it’s a tough time for social conservatives in America’ who are now officially in the ‘smear zone’ because views on issues like gay marriage are gradually changing in the US and becoming increasingly accepted. As a result, social conservatives are now in the ‘smear zone’ according to O’Reilly who are unable to get things done – this is seen from several losses over issues like gay marriage such as repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, US v Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry. As a result, there have been calls within the GOP to quit being so anti-gay marriage because they run at risk of alienating young voters (who usually support gay marriage) – Jeb Bush for instance says he supports gay marriage. GOP struggling with a changing political and social shift on gay marriage. | However, they may indeed be struggling with the changing social and political climate- but they continue to remain fully social conservative as further illustrated by the ongoing Obergefell v. Hodges case in which Marco Rubio commented saying it was ridiculous to assume gay marriage is protected by the constitution. |
| IMMIGRATION REFORM. The Republican Party’s conservative principles are evident from their tough stance on immigration reform in which they continue to believe that comprehensive immigration reform is not a sensible approach to dealing with the issue and believe deportations should intensify, they also see comprehensive immigration reform as being a way of rewarding (by granting amnesty) criminals who have broken the law by coming to the US illegally. This tough stance on immigration reform continues to be evident within the conservative Republican party whereby they filibustered the DREAM Act in 2010 and were outraged by Obama’s executive order last year. Similarly, conservatism within the GOP on this issue is seen at a state level whereby some states have adopted very strict anti-immigration laws such as Alabama HB 56 and Arizona SB 1070 and a Texas legislature dominated by Republicans have put on hold Obama’s executive order. | However, in recent years there has been increasing efforts by the Republican party to work in conjunction with the Democrats on achieving immigration reform, for instance, the Gang of 8 Bill was a bipartisan measure led by Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Chuck Schumer which sought to introduce a path to citizenship, it was one of the several other attempts at comprehensive immigration reform in recent years. Also, John Boehner, the Republican House Speaker put forward a 3 week extension bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, thus allowing for Obama’s executive order to go through, and was supported by a dozen GOP House Representatives. | However, Boehner’s bill ultimately failed and a shorter version (1 week) was passed instead due to the GOP House voting against it. Similarly, the Gang of 8 bill also failed due to a lack of GOP support. The GOP remain seriously in opposition to a path to citizenship. |
| 2016 RACE. The 2016 presidential race is dominated by conservatives – such as Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio with not a moderate in sight. | Previous two elections the GOP presidential candidates were Mitt Romney and John McCain – two moderates, and right now Jeb Bush is considering running for presidency which could consolidate moderate sentiments within the party | Romney and McCain lost – moderate conservatism is a declining force. |
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