To what extent do fiscal conservatives now dominate the Republican Party?

To what extent do fiscal conservatives now dominate the Republican Party?

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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

Divisions within the Democratic and Republican Party

Republican Party
The 2012 primaries revealed huge divisions within the GOP. Mitt Romney ran for Presidency, he came off as a very moderate conservative in which the Tea Party slammed Romney as a ‘weak moderate candidate’ who was hand picked by the ‘mushy-middle’ GOP. Further candidates from different factions: Rick Santorum (social) and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul (Libertarians) ran for the primaries but made no significant gains, the fact that so many candidates from different factions were running emphasising the very fact that the GOP are not dominated by one faction but there are many conflicting ones seeking to gain control. 

With certain provisions of the PATRIOT Act set to expire soon, divisions have emerged among the Republicans on whether or not to renew the PATRIOT Act. Civil libertarians are at odds with traditional defence hawks who back tough spying measures to fight terror. The divisions have most prominently become evident on the PATRIOT Act in response to Edward Snowden’s NSA leaks which revealed the extent of mass surveillance operations conducted by the NSA involving collecting internet data from and tapping phones from millions of citizens. On one side we have Senator Marco Rubio who wants to reauthorize the law believes it to be necessary given the growing threat of global terror, particularly the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and al-Qaeda. Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, however, have spoken against it saying that the PATRIOT Act infringes upon citizens right to privacy. Rand Paul said that the federal government and NSA want to trace every detail and aspect of peoples lives and use it to control people. Paul has also threatened to filibuster the expansion and renewal of the PATRIOT Act. John McCain, also in support of the PATRIOT Act believes it should be renewed, pointing to the ‘draw Mohammed’ competition whereby two Islamic extremists were gunned down, in order to prevent terrorism and especially homegrown extremism. .  Moreover, divisions are also clear on strategy on how to deal with ISIS. For instance, Rick Santorum wants to deploy 10,000 American troops in Iraq as part of a coalition with Arab nations to fight ISIS. Jeb Bush believes those troops would have been useful few years ago but today ground troops won’t help. Marco Rubio has adopted a tough stance, taking a line from Taken and saying “we will look for you, we will find you, and we will kill you” and provide the most devastating air support available. Scott Walker and Rick Perry are in favour of a combat missions while Rand Paul only wants Arab boots on the ground.  

More divisions within the Republican Party have recently been evident from the recent stripping of a bill which allowed for young illegal immigrants to serve in the United States military. The divisions have come from GOP members of Congress who are anti-immigration and GOP members who represent districts with large Hispanic populations. The bill was defeated by a 221-202 vote. In total 20 Republicans sided with the Democrats in opposing the amendment to the bill which came from Mo Brooks (Senator from Alabama). This isn’t the first time divisions have emerged within the GOP over immigration, earlier ones date back to the Gang of 8 Bill which was a bipartisan bill which was introduced by Republicans and Democrats, proposing a path to citizenship. Republicans have called the party to soften its tone on immigration to make it a more competitive force in elections with 56% of Republicans saying their party is not doing a good job on immigration. When Democrat Hilary Clinton discussed her stance on immigration (seeking comprehensive reform, path to citizenship, etc) several Republicans such as Scott Walker and Ted Cruz spoke out against it while Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio made no comments.  

As a polarising force in Washington, the Tea Party Movement has caused major divisions within the Republican Party. The Tea Party have been targeting and scrutinizing Republicans who they don’t seem fit, such as John Boehner whom they have criticised as being a ‘leader without followers’ and being too moderate. The Tea Party have been winning seats from key Republican figures such as Eric Cantor (former House Majority leader in 2014) who was defeated by Tea Party challenger Dave Brat. 

There's also obvious divisions with attitudes towards social issues such as the death penalty, gay marriage and abortion. The Christian Right or, social conservatives have lost the battle against gay marriage as illustrated by US v. Windsor, Hollingsworth v. Perry and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, more Republicans are becoming increasingly more tolerant of gay marriage. For instance, Jeb Bush has spoken out in support of gay marriage and Ted Cruz although he opposes it, said he will still love his daughter if she were gay. Marco Rubio, in response to the Obergefell v. Hodges case has argued that it is ridiculous to assume that gay marriage is a right provided by the constitution and has remained in stark opposition to gay marriage. Also, divisions have emerged at state level in Nebraska with fiscal and social conservatives along with Libertarians from the Republicans seeking to ban capital punishment. 17 Republicans in the Nebraska House legislature advocated for passage of an abolition bill, the bill passed its first hurdle with a 30 to 12 vote in favour of abolishing the death penalty, however more conservative Republicans are threatening to filibuster and the governor (Pete Ricketts) is threatening to a veto. 

Democratic Party

Most recent development in divisions within the Democrats comes from Senate Democrats blocking a bill granting Obama 'fast track authority' he needs to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement which would include 12 countries representing about 40% of the world economy. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has become de facto Democrat leader in the Senate, opposed the bill because she believes Obama cannot be trusted to make a deal in the interests of American workers as previous trade pacts have not effectively enforced existing labor standards. The 52-45 vote was a sign of bitter divisions within the party over the economy. Democrats have been long suspicious of trade deals blaming them for job losses and lax enforcement. Harry Reid also sided with Warren. Right now, all Obama can do is pretty much hope that Republicans deliver the vote given the fact they agree with the president on trade and almost every 2016 presidential candidate, except Mike Huckabee, supports TPP. Republican leaders in Congress and corporate lobby groups, particularly the U.S. Chamber of Commerce support giving the President fast track authority while most congressional Democrats, along with Labour unions, environmental groups and advocates of Internet freedom oppose it.


 TO BE UPDATED...
Last edited 26/05/2015