after 2012 election update
Republican Ideology the Past One Hundred Years (Work in Progress)
Please check later posts for any updates - and if some area can be improved please pm me or post period and policy. rev 08/14/13
"...Ideology makes men fight for their servitude as stubbornly as though it were their salvation." Deleuze/Guattari
Roaring Twenties, America turns inward after WWI, laissez faire economics prevail
Harding reduces taxes on the wealthy to spur growth
Three consecutive republican administrations, supply side economy, little regulation
Republicans align themselves with big business
Coolidge administration incompetent while speculation takes hold of nation
Hoover elected in landslide
Coolidge/Hoover presidencies, bubble mentality assures wall street speculation growth
Wall Street grows out of control, everyone wants in
Wall street market exchange cannot control speculative mood
Bubble bursts, banks collapse, investment trusts collapse, economy starts long downward spiral
Unable to control speculation wall street equally ineffective in controlling crash
Banking industry attempts control of securities crash
Republican policies fail to find workable solutions
Great Depression begins and shows weakness of American business and economic base
Hoover a businessman gets advice from the wealthy and National Association of Manufacturers
Faith in laissez faire crumbles but Hoover remains a believer
Hoover lowers taxes and attempts to balance budget
Hoover's policies fail
FDR elected, first 100 days creates job programs
FDR creates strong regulatory structure, starts minimum wage at 25 cents
These are the times of radio and newspapers
1937 FDR too tries balanced budget, economy declines
FDR creates the greatest single asset for all Americans: Social Security
FDR prepares America for the inevitable by funding training for fifty thousand new pilots
FDR masterfully fought WWII along with Churchill and Stalin
FDR wins three terms and is ranked by most as the greatest modern American president
New Deal creates a dynamic economy of technological growth
GI Bill passes and sets the stage for the growth of education and the middle class
American Medical Association killed universal health insurance under FDR and Truman
Fifty years of American exceptionalism follow FDR's presidency
Truman ends the savagery of World War II with Japan with the ultimate savagery
Truman employs UN in Korean war effort over fear of communism's spread
Truman extends New Deal and Civil rights
WWII end brings prosperity to America due to GI Bill, home growth, and durable goods growth
High tax rates continue until seventies and eighties
American corporations support the American worker with pensions and healthcare
United Nations declaration of universal rights
Eisenhower ignores right wing war mongering republicans, extends civil rights
Warren court hands down ruling on public school segregation
Eisenhower continues progressivism, Vietnam involvement continues from Truman
Eisenhower's grand idea and job's program, the Interstate highway begins
Interstate highway is based on Germany's autobahn
Eisenhower commits to helping South Vietnam
The 'Cold War' clouds the mind of America creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust
McCarthyism turns America into a land of fear and finger pointing
Nixon loses to Kennedy in first television influenced election
Kennedy buys into ridiculous Bay of Pigs plan from Eisenhower administration
America's youth gain power prestige and purchasing power
Advertising, aka propaganda, grows as TV replaces radio
Business begin its crusade against the New Deal and Unions
Kennedy reduces taxes for wealthy and corporations to stir growth
Battle for space with Russia consumes and grows America's technology
Blacks decide waiting any longer for equality is too long
Rosa Parks, among others, and Martin Luther King motivate a freedom movement long pass due
Camelot ends in Dallas
Lyndon Baines Johnson is swore in
Goldwater loses big due to perception of irrationality but race now enters politics as divisive element
LBJ starts big but ends his Great Society administration over a war born of fear
LBJ foolishly listens to war cries concerning domino effect and tragically involves America in Nam
LBJ advances civil rights and extended welfare so all Americans can have a little of the pie
Voter rights extended to all under Johnson Administration
George Wallace segregationist runs for president in 1968 and 1972
In the seventies religion combines with business against regulation and civil rights
Like FDR, Lyndon Baines Johnson moves America a bit closer to fairness and equality
AMA finally loses, LBJ creates another great American accomplishment Medicare
Anti-war demonstrations change attitudes and diminish LBJ social achievements
Nixon elected on law and order platform
Nixon has secret plan for ending Vietnam but paranoid personality ruins administration
Nixon end the war in Vietnam and starts the Environmental Protection Agency
Nixon opens up trade to China and negotiates with Mother Russia
Internet begins with DOD project to protect communications against Armageddon
Nixon's paranoid personality and his administration misfits create Watergate
Fearing impeachment Nixon resigns, Ford takes helm
Watergate changes campaign financing regulations
OPEC oil embargo over support for Israel in war
Carter elected, religion enters politics more openly
Carter inherits stagflation economy from Nixon / Ford
The 70's are a time of human rights
Carter signs onto the deregulation phenomenon
China begins its economic entry into the global world
Carter supports Afghanistan against Russian occupation, seeds are set for growth of insurgency terrorism
CNN and the start of 24 by 7 news begins
Carter reduces taxes for wealthy and increases military spending
Iranian militants take Americans captive
Under supply side economists, taxes become the major political tool of republicans
PACs grow as corporations seek control of government
Oil embargo hurts Carter but efforts at energy policy are forgotten as Reagan wins
Reagan starts the destruction of the middle class in part by making government and regulations the problem
Cultural issues and dog whistle racist politics join taxes as republican strategies
Reagan continues the destruction of regulatory agencies that eventually lead to the Great Recession of today
Reagan reduces taxes for wealthy - corporations and think tanks gain persuasive powers
Reagan or his administration realize their errors and raise taxes several times, including largest peace time tax
With bipartisan support, Reagan helps social security remain solvent
America becomes a debtor nation under Reagan, invades Grenada
Reagan escapes impeachment over Iran Contra
Government grows larger under Reagan
Free market worship fails to recognize reality of global market
Under Reagan wealth again as it did in the twenties is transferred to the wealthiest Americans
The middle class shrinks under Reagan and poverty increases
Bush Sr continuing deregulation predicts banking deregulation will protect taxpayers - think tarp
Bush Sr experiences effect of Reagan economic policies, economy collapses, real estate boom crash, S&L scandal, bailouts to rescue nation again after republican policies
Russian communism collapses from age and incompetence that all oligarchies face
G.H.W. Bush loses to William Jefferson Clinton as Republican policies once more fail the nation
"It's the economy, stupid." winning Clinton slogan
Internet commercialization grows as browsers develop and business goes online
Clinton raises taxes, economy recovers aided by millennium and Internet bubble
Armies of money and power go after Clinton on healthcare proposal, spending publicly and privately millions
Clinton buys into financial nonsense, supporting NAFTA, regulatory and welfare reform
Clinton raises minimum wage and job growth continues
Government shrinks under Clinton
Clinton foolishly continues deregulatory policies of republicans
Phil Gramm Texas, republican senator pushes the Financial Services Act of 1999
This change in banking law leads to great recession of 2008
Republicans waste millions on Whitewater fishing investigation
Ridiculous DADT policy implemented after republican opposition to more open policy
Clinton moves right and sells out progressive values over welfare and wall street regulation
Monica and the meaning of 'is' fill the news and blanket real issues
Republicans with nothing positive for America on their agenda investigate and try to impeach Clinton
All of the senators voting against the violence against women act were republican men
Millions are spent to remove a democratically elected president
Enron scandal, along with many other corporate scandals, demonstrate the need for better regulatory structure
Gore wins popular vote, republicans fight Florida recount
Bush-Gore election goes to Bush as SCOTUS moves from interpreters of law to corporate activists
SCOTUS decides election, rather than the American people
Bush proves himself inept in all ways, but 911 attack creates fear and more war cries
Fear again makes America become something it tells itself it is better than
Bush proves himself an incompetent leader who creates massive debt and war deaths
Clinton surplus is squandered on tax relief primarily for the wealthy
Dick Cheney, a draft dodger, and the neocons turn President Bush to war
'War on Terror' clouds the mind of America creating an atmosphere of insecurity
Bush, as Reagan did, grows government and creates massive federal debt
Katrina incompetence represents firsthand the failure of republican governance
Loss of regulatory structure starting with Reagan and continuing with Clinton and Bush helps creates housing bubble
Reducing taxes, again as it did in twenties, proves economic bubbles never go away
Presidents Kennedy, Carter, Reagan, and Bush all reduced taxes Reagan eventually back tracked
Bush / Cheney invade Iraq based on trumped up propaganda about WMDs and scare tactics
Real estate bubble bursts over poor investments and just plain greed and stupidity on wall street and investment firms
Loss of regulatory structures again leads to economic collapse in America and areas of the world
Immigration issues ignored except in rhetoric, no policy progress
Great depression fears grow again after eight years of republican governance
National Association of Manufacturers and other corporations today own congress due to need for election monies
Bush administration bails out certain investment firms
Economy collapses under Bush and bailouts are once again required during a republican administration
One in four children in America suffers hunger
Job loss and poverty increase again under republican business governance
Republicans select John McCain for presidential run
McCain makes fatal mistake of selecting Sarah Palin as running mate
Republicans (and some democrats) spent a trillion dollars on Iraq but want to reduce spending for needy children
Palin comes off as comedy character claiming she can see Russia among numerous other gaffes
The failure of republican policies brings about an election win that once seemed impossible in America
Obama wins election for 'change' due to the total failure of George W. Bush's conservative policies
Armies of money and power again mount offensive attacking the American values of justice and fairness represented by Obama
Election loss creates powerful forces against change of status quo
Race continues to be an ingredient of American politics for the republicans as voting suppression begins anew by republican governors
Outsourcing, automation, and downsizing negatively affect job growth in America
Big money conservatives continue fight against the workings of democracy
Republicans in congress clearly state their only goal is removal of our democratically elected president
Barack Obama's election unleashes a movement that creates a third party in America the Tea Party
Corporations no longer work for America but for profit at any cost to the American worker
Republican governors and judicial appointees mount war against voter rights and democratic government
Obama's help of GM and Chrysler is a financial and job saving success
Republican presidents have worst job record, with the two Bush administrations as the worst
American job numbers improve slowly under Obama as Stimulus package takes effect, unemployment starts downward
Tea party solidifies supported by big money a rigid ideology and strong hints of racism
Hate groups triple after the election of Barack Obama
The activist SCOTUS decides corporations are really people, money gains even more power
A grassroots movement in Egypt removes a corrupt administration from power
Osama bin Laden found and executed after concerted effort by Obama administration
Obama attempts at bipartisanship and compromise prove impossible under republican intransigence
Tea party candidates win due to gerrymandering by republicans, House becomes completely dysfunctional
Market up under Obama (30% at time of writing)
October 2011 market highest in ten years
Stimulus for America helped greatly but republicans fight against American values of sharing
Once again Keynesian ideas avert an even worst collapse of the economy
Obama passes Healthcare policy, keeps campaign promises on wars, Iraq draws to an end
America is too scared to live up to its principles of a fair trial and creates military tribunals
DADT is finally removed but Obama shows no guts as billions are squandered on Bush's tax policy that failed completely
Job numbers improve greatly from Bush but European fears and globalism affect markets
Big money fights healthcare and think tank rhetoric distorts potential cost savings
Wall street fights hard to maintain its wild west greed mentality
Dodd Frank passes Wall Street reform again becomes law
Mid term elections prove once again America's workers and working class don't vote in sufficient numbers
Republicans block all job bills and block Obama's nominations for public office
Obama's Libyan policy is successful with minor expenditure
Tea party ideologues try to sabotage government on debt ceiling to bring down America's elected president
Tea party backed by republican big money work to destroy America's greatest asset its strong federal government
Bush Jr tax policies still govern America as republicans fight for big oil and big money
Poverty in America increases as republicans fight for the wealthy and the corporations
America's credit rating is downgraded due to intransigence of republicans in congress
Republican presidential candidates onstage kowtow to tea party and Norquist tax pledge
Republicans blast each other with big money as primary weapon rather than ideas and policy
Wages for working Americans have been flat since Reagan with minor jump during Clinton
Republican men once again block passage of violence against women bill
All five female Republican senators voted to reauthorize and expand the landmark law
Contraception enters the political arena due to the republican marriage of business and religion
Republicans propose numerous abortion restrictions, most unconstitutional, but do nothing to help working Americans
2012 Presidential election cycle heats up as focus moves back to power rather than governance
Republican governed state houses change the rules so as to bring back Jim Crow and voter suppression
Republicans cheer loudly for death penalty numbers, republicans boo a gay American soldier
Republicans sign pledge for no new taxes even as American infrastructure deteriorates
Republican debate audience demonstrates 'compassionate conservative' was always an oxymoron
Republicans with nothing productive to do try to capsize Obama administration as they did Clinton
Republicans admit new voter rules are only to suppress minority voters
Only 12% of Americans think Congress is doing a good job and a majority want their own representatives removed from office
This low number continues to recent times in America
Romney moves into Flip-Flopville and Perry gains strength due to his extreme views and cowboy image
Republicans continue to push tax reduction and less regulation as economic panaceas after their proven failure
Wall Street occupation begins, outcome unknown (state government eventually crushes movement)
Top 1% in America control 90% of its wealth
CEO salaries are now 325 times what a factory worker makes
Right wing media including Fox and the WSJ cease to be journalism and instead become tools of corporate ideology
While the great recession had many negative consequences Social Security and Medicare helped seniors through these hard times
While republicans often mention freedom they are the least free politicians, ideology prevents them from working towards solutions
The rigid republican ideology explains their failures when given the reigns of governance
Republicans today only want power back and stand in the way of jobs and rebuilding America
The majority of Americans support Obama's new Job's Bill
Boehner, Cantor, Ryan and McConnell show their true selves and deny help for teachers, police, and fire fighters
Republicans block Jobs bill proving once more America's working class doesn't count
American businesses have separated their interests from those of building and supporting the nation
Republicans won a majority in 2010 in the house based on their job promises but do nothing for jobs
Wall street protest spreads, demonstrating the spirit of fairness and equality still exist in America
While Romney remains the most likely to succeed, republicans enjoy their position of 'opposition only' and may wait for a candidate they deem conservative enough either now, or five years from now
Rick Perry's presidential bid dies of self inflicted wounds
Newt Gingrich ironically becomes the gladiator of the party of family values
Lee Atwater's language of code returns once more to republican conversation
Welfare, food stamps, dog whistles return once more to the republican vocabulary
Obama administration increase oil development and production
The party that gave tax breaks to the wealthy and mismanaged and unfunded two wars now claims deficits matter
PACs demonstrate the power of money as republicans voters move to one candidate then another
Republican debates are oddly telling on the wide disparities in both wealth and business practices
Money ironically drags the failed policies of 'vulture' capitalism out in the open
America's political system, and even our court system, has moved away from practical politics that works for the people to a system that works only for the politicians, big money and corporations
Fast and Furious, the republicans latest whitewater type investigation, proves empty and as useless as most republican political acts
SCOTUS rules that the affordable care act (ACA), aka Obamacare, is constitutional
Republican opposition to the ACA again demonstrate law is only constitutional if it agrees with their interpretation of law
The republican congress in another example of absurd theater discovers communists in their midst
Romney wins the battle of money politics and begins another round of odd gaffes and extreme views
Obama adds to his accomplishments a correction to immigration law regarding young people whose parents brought them to America
Since Romney has flip flopped on almost every issue it is difficult to tell who he may be, 47 percent comment released to media
Romney refuses to release tax returns and is found to have money made in America invested in many foreign banks
Paul Ryan's selection for vice president demonstrates again republicans are really still fighting the New Deal and Great Society
Donald Trump along with other republicans still thinks birthplace conspiracies trump jobs for Americans
Reagan's phone policy becomes free stuff from Obama in the world of republican lies and absurdist spin
The republican congress continues to engage in meaningless and often unconstitutional bill debate, useless exercises in uselessness
Tea party evolves into a third party with total control of the republican party
Republican candidates claim rape is not rape unless they say so
Contraception, something every married couple practices is now an issue for republicans since jobs were too tough
Survey finds Fox viewers are less informed than the uninformed
Right wing media predicts republican win, even a landslide
Republicans exist in a bubble so dense they see an easy Romney victory
Carl Rove and other republican tacticians predict comfortable Romney win
On election night Fox republican talking heads find themselves denying reality
Barack H. Obama is the second Democrat elected with over 51% of American voters
After their loss republicans decide they need a bigger tent
Republicans blame ACORN a group that no longer exists for election losses
Republicans become party of stupid, a term even fellow republicans use and this continues till the present
Constant mass shootings do not alter republican support for the gun lobby
Louie Gohmert, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Mike Lee prove the ridiculous requires extension
While Obamacare, as healthcare has come to be known, is law republicans only respect law when it favors their ideology
Like a bad Penny Donald Trump keeps turning up talking birtherism among other nonsense
Sequester proves republican care and concern of children and America is hypocrisy at its finest
Republicans decide sequestration doesn't apply to them, only the elderly and the poor should be victims of budget cuts
Republican austerity programs match European austerity, a proven failure
Limbaugh, Hannity, and the rest of right wing media remain the means for control of the mind of the republican base
Government shrinks under Obama, market is stable, job growth continues
Republican state houses continue to go after women's reproductive rights
Republicans continue to deny climate change as they kowtow to corporate power and money
Every issue becomes an Obama scandal in the mind of the republican ideologue
It is hard to determine whether Ted Cruz or Darrell Issa is the modern Joe McCarthy
Town hall meetings for republicans turn out the small minded, the racists, and the crazies
Kansas GOP House Speaker prays that Obama’s 'children be fatherless and his wife a widow'
When your party appeals to stupid ideas rather than constructive policies the result is chaos
Immigration reform is lost on republican tacticians, their bigger tent is obviously limited
Republicans continue to fight public education at the state level denying science and history
The Robert's Court turns out to be the most anti-American civil rights court since the 19th century
Jim Crow voter suppression returns in republican controlled state houses
Thousands of the elderly and children in Head Start are hurt by the sequester proving once again the hypocrisy of the republicans
Republicans again, like spoiled children, threaten a government shutdown if they don't get their way
After doing nothing congress takes another well paid extended vacation.
It is hard to describe the republican party today, its leaders are ideologues, talking heads, and a fringe made up of conspiratorial nutcases. There is no other way to describe them fairly. They persist in a litany of stupid remarks heard almost daily from elected officials which makes the 'witch candidate' and the 'VP candidate who read nothing' look normal if not regular. They get their soapbox on Fox where the last election proved clearly these people know nothing about America. And yet this is the base, a base heard online in a daily spewing of hatred for our democratically elected president. Just yesterday a former chairman of the republican party wondered why these stupid remarks persist and questioned why the few sane republicans don't speak up. I guess when the hardcore base shouts you down, there is no reason to even try to repair the GOP. Only the voters can repair the party but it seems gerrymandering has created a unsolvable problem when the candidates and elected republicans are of the same timber as the crazies.
