The State of the Republican Party

Former vice president Richard “Dick” Cheney was one of the architects of the senseless, immoral, and unjust wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—just as he was one of the architects of the foolish first invasion of Iraq (Operation Desert Storm) as secretary of defense under George H. W. Bush. Before this, he served for ten years in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Wyoming.

Cheney’s daughter Liz followed in her father’s footsteps in 2016 by winning his former congressional seat. She was ousted earlier this year from her post as conference chair by the House Republican Party caucus because of her repeated rejections of the efforts of former president Donald Trump and his supporters to establish that the 2020 election was rife with fraud and stolen. Although Cheney voted with Trump 92.6 percent of the time and also voted to re-elect him in 2020, she was one of ten Republican House members who voted to impeach Trump—after he was no longer in office.

Rep. Cheney recently said her father is “deeply troubled” about the state of the Republican Party. Speaking at an event hosted by the Aspen Institute, she said: “My dad is deeply troubled about where our party is, deeply troubled about where the country is.”

Although Liz Cheney is not the most popular Republican at the moment (“A cancer to our party and to our caucus,” said one Republican), and Dick Cheney left office with an approval rating at a staggeringly low 13 percent, his concern, and his daughter’s comment about it, about the state of the Republican Party is an important one, even if not for the reasons that so deeply them.

There is no question that the Democratic Party in 2021 is at its all-time worst. It is much more progressive and socialist than it was during Obama’s presidency. And on top of that, the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the presidency.

If ever an opposition party was needed, it is now. Unfortunately, those who put their trust in the Republican Party will, as usual, be sorely disappointed. The state of the Republican Party is abysmal.

Consider the recent “Investing in a New Vision for the Environment and Surface Transportation in America Act or the INVEST in America Act” (H.R. 3684), otherwise known as the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Although it has not yet been voted on in the House, the vote in the Senate was 69-30. There were nineteen Republicans in the Senate who voted for this gargantuan pork fest masquerading as an infrastructure spending bill, including some who never hesitate to tout their “conservative” credentials.

Only two Republicans in the Senate voted against Biden’s pick to head the Department of Defense, retired Gen. Lloyd Austin.

The repeal of “The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002” (H.R.256) that passed the House back in June was opposed by 160 Republicans and supported by only 49 of them.

But it is not just on current issues that Republicans have disappointed advocates of liberty, property, peace, free markets, and a government strictly limited to what is authorized by the Constitution. When it comes to the great philosophical issues that supposedly divide Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives, Republicans fail miserably as well.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that some Americans should be forced to pay for the health care of other Americans through Medicare and Medicaid.

Republicans, like Democrats, support anti-discrimination laws that violate the rights of private property and free association.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that Americans should be locked in a case for possessing substances that the government doesn’t approve of.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe in saving the largest socialist program in the United States: Social Security—an intergenerational wealth-redistribution scheme.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the government should take money from those who work and give it to those who don’t.

Republicans, like Democrats, support an interventionist foreign policy.

Republicans, like Democrats, support foreign aid.

Republicans, like Democrats, support federal subsidies to certain occupations and sectors of society: agriculture, the arts, cultural organizations, scientific and medical researchers, and low-income renters.

Republicans, like Democrats, support refundable tax credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) that give some Americans tax refunds of money that they never paid in.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should operate a rail service, AMTRAK.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that some Americans should be forced to pay for the education of other Americans and their children.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that millions of Americans are entitled to food stamps.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should spend millions of dollars to explore outer space.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should make available free vaccines.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should have a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that Americans must submit to before they can purchase a gun.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should fight poverty, establish a safety net, and hand out cash to the poor.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should make home loans, guarantee loans, give out housing vouchers, and have a Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that the federal government should have laws to prohibit or regulate gambling.

Republicans, like Democrats, believe that it should be illegal for consenting adults to pay other consulting adults for sex—even though it is legal for consenting adults to be paid to have sex in front of a director, cameraman, and movie crew.

I could go on and on, but I think I’ve made my point.

The only thing that Democrats and Republicans sometimes actually disagree on is the amount of the unconstitutional spending by the federal government and the type of restrictions, if any, that should be placed on it. This is the state of the Republican Party, and it has been for quite some time.

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