Columnist mourns death of GOP
By: Peter Kolb – Columnist, First Year
I won’t bore you with another trite rant on “The Donald”; we’ve all seen enough of those to last a lifetime in the past month. We’ve seen the circus TV show called the 2016 Republican primary race and nervously shuffled our hands around as we started noticing this is not a sitcom, but unfortunately an all too real reality show.
I was raised in a very conservative household, and believe it or not, proceeded to then grow up as a very conservative kid (strange how that works). I debated fellow classmates over things neither of us actually understood, doing our best to quote the one liners we heard our parents mumbling while watching TV.
As I grew older, I began to recognize the many flaws in the “Grand Ol’ Party.” But beyond the eccentric Sarah Palins were the same conservative principles the party was built upon. Contrary to what you hear on Reddit, Tumblr, Buzzfeed, etc., these principles are not racism, sexism and hatred of the poor. Small government, minimum federal intervention and free market capitalism. This is what the Republican Party was founded on. This is what Reagan, Friedman and Coolidge stood for.
It is my opinion that these men wouldn’t touch the modern day Republican Party with a 10-foot pole. Ronald Reagan enacted one of the largest tax cuts in history. When the social landscape changed, he changed with it and implemented the largest peacetime tax increase in American history. Reagan had an amnesty program set up for illegal immigrants. He worked across the aisle with Tip O’Neill to make Congress more effective than ever.
Currently, Republicans claim their biggest priority is denying Obama the right to appoint a Supreme Court nominee, Donald Trump is proposing one of the most radical anti-immigration policies in history, and the idea that any of these candidates would ever consider raising taxes is laughable. Of course, all of this takes a backseat on the campaign trail since right now Trump and Cruz are too busy arguing over a National Enquirer tabloid story.
Look, I get it Republicans. Hillary constantly lies, and you’re too busy keeping Bernie’s hands off your hard-earned money to learn the differences between “socialism” and “democratic socialism.” But please, if you call yourself a Republican, act like it. Hold your party to a higher standard and please don’t even start lecturing me on the infeasibility of Bernie’s plans when your party’s most recent debate literally turned into a penis-measuring contest.
We are currently witnessing the death of the Republican Party as we know it. Trump, Cruz, McConnell: These are not conservatives. These are power hungry sociopaths that are taking advantage of a party already in a vulnerable state.
The conservative ideals my parents instilled in me from a young age are dead in today’s GOP Make no mistake: The problem goes past Trump. While he’s a satisfying scapegoat, it doesn’t change the fact that all across the country what could be considered the “average Republican” is electing officials into office with minimal amount of respect for those across the aisle, the office they find themselves in and the people they are elected to serve.
Liberals, I fully understand the hatred toward the GOP this year. However, let’s be clear, hatred in democracy gets us nowhere. A two party system can work—it has in the past. We just can’t let these imposter-Republicans poison half of the aisle. Don’t attack conservatism and men like Trump in the same breath: They are not one and the same.
Moderate Republicans, please stand up for your party. If Trump wins the primaries, the choice is not only between him and Hillary. Enough votes for an independent candidate such as Jill Stein can show your leaders that you will not support this political suicide. Because while right now Trump and Cruz are simply embarrassing themselves, soon enough they may be embarrassing the United States of America.