This essay was awarded 40/45 marks.
Ronald Reagan in the 1980s established Republican ideology as revolving around 'fiscal conservatism' which seeks to reduce the scope of government, cut back in taxes and ultimately lower the scope of government particularly its intervention into the economy. The fiscal conservativs are indeed the dominant faction within the Republican Party as illustrated by the cuts made in the 2015 budget, stark opposition to Obamacare and the rise of the Tea Party Movement which have further entrenched fiscal sentiments within the party.
The rise and dominance of the Tea Party movement in recent years is the most significant sign of fiscal conservatives dominating the Republican Party. During the 2014 midterm elections they endorsed 59 candidates for the House of Representative, in which 48 won seats, thereby increasing the number of Tea Party members within Congress. The Tea Party are an evident sign of fiscal dominance because of their 'small government' and low taxation rhetoric which all falls under fiscal values. Perhaps the most significant sign of the GOP members of Congress being fiscally conservative is evident from opposition to Obamacare whereby every single Republican in the House in 2010 voted against. However, even with a surge in Tea Party members the GOP have been criticised for not being very fiscally conservative as seen by their inability to tackle the government deficit which is already peaking at over $17 trillion despite Congress being a Republican stronghold. There have been instances in recent events whereby it appeared the GOP was not fiscally conservative as seen by an agreement to raise taxes in 2013 in order to fund Obamacare. However, even in this case the GOP is dominated by fiscal sentiments as was demonstrated by the 2013 government shutdown which only took place in order to prevent tax hikes which was sparked by the Tea Party. The agreement to raise taxes does not reflect the whole party as it was merely a compromise in order to end the shutdown as it had greatly discredited the GOP among the public.
Further evidence that the GOP are dominated by fiscal conservatives is seen from the presidential race in 2012 whereby Mitt Romney ran with running mate Paul Ryan, who is affiliating with the Tea Party. The very fact that two fiscal conservatives, especially Ryan, were running for presidency and the main issue they campaigned on was Obamacare, emphasizes the strength of fiscal sentiments within the party. However , it became evident during the race that Romney was in fact more of a moderate, the Tea Party slammed Romney as a 'weak moderate candidate' who was handpicked by the 'mushy-middle' GOP. During the race Tea Party backed candidates like Hrman Cain and Michele Bachman did not win much, although Bachman did win Iowa. The fact that Romney came off as a moderate (and was endorsed by the rest of the GOP) and Tea Party candidates lost shows that fiscal conservatism is in decline within the party. However, arguably Romney had to run his campaign on more moderate policies to make significant gains in the polls and primaries, suggesting it was merely an election strategy. But the fact that Ryan was his running mate and other Republican candidates like Rich Santorum (social conservative) and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul (Libertarians) didn't win the primaries shows that fiscal conservatism is not a declining force in the GOP. This is further illustrated by two Tea Party candidates, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, running for the 2016 presidential race.
As Bil O'Reilly on Fox News put it in May this year, other factions within the GOP are in decline and this has paved the way for fiscal conservatives to be the main faction. O'Reilly remarked "its a tough time for social conservatives in America" who are now in the 'smear zone' as seen by recent backlash against GP members with a conservative stance on social issues like Marco Rubio, Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee. Social conservatives are increasingly becoming marginalised by the media, perhaps because they have failed in many policy areas such gay marriage as illustrated by US v. Windsor striking down the Defence of the Marriage Act (DOMA) and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. As a result, fiscal conservatives have clearly risen to prominence. However, arguably the GOP has infact become more socially conservative with a GOP dominated Congress. Social conservatives continue to go rampant on issues such as abortion, same sex couples and stem cell research. This was evident by GOP attempts in May to pass laws instructing doctors performing late term abortions to take steps in giving the fetus the best chance of survival. This comes as a wider attempt to criminalise most abortions starting at the twentieth week of pregnancy. However, overall the social conservatives are no longer very prominent perhaps because key GOP figures are adopting more tolerant stances on issues like gay marriage like Jeb Bush has. Overall the fiscal conservatives are the main faction as further demonstrated by the banning of ear marks.
Fiscal conservatives seek to control what they see as 'wasteful' spending and some of these take the form of earmarks which have been recently banned by Republican House Speaker, John Boehner. Earmarks have been excessively used by members of Congress, for instance, Dianne Feinstein's earmarks have totaled to $14 million. Earmarks take up a lot of federal spending and are seen by fiscals as only hindering attempts at reducing debt. Sometimes such earmarks are useless, like the Alaska 'bridge to nowhere' earmark. So, since the earmarks have been banned and Boehner has in fact further enforced it through to the 114th Congress shows that fiscal conservatives still dominate the party. However, Boehner along with dozens of other GOP House members voted in favour of a 3 week extension funding for the Department of Homeland Security, thus enabling Obama's Executive Order to go through. This has been viewed by fiscals as a violated of the Hastert Rule and further increasing federal government expenditure, which does not portray the party as a fiscal one. However, Boehner has been criticised by Republicans for being too moderate and he deos not reflect the overall will of the party. He's been referred to as the 'leader without followers' and overall, the GOP remains fiscally conservative as seen by the fact Boehner's 3 week extension failed and a shorter one was subsequently passed due to the majority of the GOP backing the shorter version.
Finally, the GOP dominated Congress has recently approved of a budge plan that includes a measure designed to help fiscal conservatives within the party to push forward repeal for Obama's healthcare reform. In theory, the recently approved budget (May 2015) has provided the GOP with a blueprint for them to have a balanced budget and $5.3 trillion cuts over the next decade that will help attempt to scrap Obamacare. However, two key Republican figures; Rand Paul and Ted Cruz did not support the measure as it is not going far enough for fiscal conservative standards as all it seems to do is make repealing Obamacare easier. In addition, to the budget $38 billion is being pumped into defence spending, thus undoing previous fiscal achievements in 2013 when significant cuts were made to the defence budget. Regardless of the disagreements, the GOP is still dominated by fiscal conservatives and this budget is physical proof since it is providing the first balanced budget since 2001 which will inevitably 'starve the beast' which is one of the key priorities for fiscal conservatives.
As demonstrated above, the GOP remains an incredibly fiscal conservative party which has been evident by the surge in Tea Party members in Congress. Their continues commitment to opposing Obamacare, increases in taxiton and decline of the previously dominant faction, social conservatives, had truly generated an image of the Republicans being a fiscal party.
AO1: 10
A02: 11
SS: 11
AO3: 8
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