Republican Party of the United States

The Republican Party (often GOP for Grand Old Party) is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The current President of the United States, George W. Bush, is a member of the party – and by rules common to both major U.S. parties, its head – and it has majorities in the Senate and the House. The GOP is a conservative (or right-wing) party, and it has numerous internal factions.

The party was organized in Ripon, Wisconsin on February 28, 1854, as a party opposed to the westward expansion of slavery. It is not to be confused with the Democratic-Republican party of Thomas Jefferson or the National Republican Party of Henry Clay. The first convention of the U.S. Republican Party was held on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. Many of its initial policies were inspired by the defunct Whig Party. Since its inception, its chief opposition has been the Democratic Party.

Today, its primary political principles include deregulated free-market capitalism (excepting corporate tax breaks and subsidies), along with nationalism, religiosity, social conservatism, and militarism. Refer below (Factions of the Republican Party) for a detailed explication of its ideological spectrum.

The official symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. Although the elephant had occasionally been associated with the party earlier, a political cartoon by Thomas Nast, published in Harper's Weekly on November 7, 1874, is considered the first important use of the symbol . In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Republican party in Midwestern states such as Indiana and Ohio was the eagle, as opposed to the Democratic rooster. This symbol still appears on Indiana ballots .

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Organization

The Republican National Committee (RNC) of the United States provides national leadership for the Republican Party. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as for coordinating fundraising and election strategy. There are similar committees in every U.S. state and most U.S. counties (though in some states, party organization lower than state-level is arranged by legislative districts). It can be considered the counterpart of the Democratic National Committee. The chairman of the RNC, since July of 2003, is Ed Gillespie.

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History

John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican nominee for President in 1856, using the political slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont." The party grew especially rapidly in Northeastern and Midwestern states, where slavery had long been prohibited, culminating in a sweep of victories in the Northern states and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860, ending 60 years of dominance by Southern Democrats and ushering in a new era of Republican dominance based in the industrial north.

With the end of the Civil War came the upheavals of Reconstruction under Republican presidents Andrew Johnson (though he had bitter disputes with the Republicans in Congress, who eventually impeached him) and Ulysses S. Grant. For a brief period, Republicans assumed control of Southern politics (due especially to the former slaves receiving the vote while it was denied to many whites who had participated in the Confederacy), forcing drastic reforms and frequently giving former slaves positions in government. Reconstruction came to an end with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes through the Compromise of 1877.

Though states' rights was a cause of both Northern and Southern states before the War, control of the federal government led the Republican Party down a national line. The patriotic unity that developed in the North because of the war led to a string of military men as President, and an era of international expansion and domestic protectionism. As the rural Northern antebellum economy mushroomed with industry and immigration, supporting invention and business became the hallmarks of Republican policy proposals. From the Reconstruction era up to the turn of the century, the Republicans benefited from the Democrats' association with the Confederacy and dominated national politics – albeit with strong competition from the Democrats, especially during the 1880s. With the two-term presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, the party became known for its strong advocacy of commerce, industry, and veterans' rights, which continued through the end of the 19th century.

During the 1880s and 1890s, the Republicans struggled against the Democrats' efforts, winning several close elections and losing two to Grover Cleveland (in 1884 and 1892). The election of William McKinley in 1896 is widely seen as a resurgence of Republican dominance and is sometimes cited as a realigning election. He relied heavily on industry for his support and cemented the Republicans as the party of business; his campaign manager, Marcus Hanna, developed a detailed plan for getting contributions from the business world, and McKinley outspent his rival William Jennings Bryan by a large margin. This emphasis on business was in part mitigated by Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley's successor after assassination, who engaged in trust-busting.

Roosevelt did not seek another term in 1908, instead endorsing William Howard Taft as his successor, but the widening division between progressive and conservative forces in the party resulted in a third-party candidacy for Roosevelt on the Progressive, or "Bull Moose" ticket in the election of 1912. He finished ahead of Taft, but the split in the Republican vote resulted in a decisive victory for Democrat Woodrow Wilson, temporarily interrupting the Republican era.

The party controlled the presidency throughout the 1920s, running on a platform of isolationism and laissez-faire economics after Wilson's turbulent internationalism. Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover were resoundingly elected in 1920, 1924, and 1928 respectively, but the Great Depression cost Hoover the presidency with the landslide election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932. Roosevelt's New Deal Coalition controlled American politics for the next three decades, excepting the two-term presidency of World War II General Dwight Eisenhower.

The post-war emergence of the United States as one of two superpowers and rapid social change caused the Republican Party to divide into a conservative faction (dominant in the West) and a liberal faction (dominant in New England) – combined with a residual base of inherited progressive Midwestern Republicanism active throughout the century. A Republican like U.S. Sen Robert Taft of Ohio represented the Midwestern wing of the party that continued to oppose New Deal reforms and continued to champion isolationism. Thomas Dewey represented the Northeastern wing of the party that was closer to Democratic liberalism and internationalism. In the end, the isolationists were marginalized by those who supported a strong U.S. role in opposing the Soviet Union throughout the world. However, this development did not represent the end of the story. The seeds of conservative dominance in the Republican party were planted in the nomination of conservative Barry Goldwater over liberal Nelson Rockefeller as the Republican candidate for the 1964 presidential election.

Goldwater's electoral success in the Southern states, and Nixon's successful Southern strategy four years later, represented a significant political change, as Southern white protestants began moving into the party, largely in reaction to Democrats' support for the Civil Rights Movement. Simultaneously, the remaining pockets of liberal Republicanism in the northeast began to die out as the region turned solidly Democratic.

Richard Nixon's political disgrace in the Watergate Scandal, revelations that he had ordered massive, illegal bombing of Cambodia, and the humiliating military debacle of the end of the Vietnam War led to the election of centrist Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976. However, the Carter administration was to last only one term, as disappointing economic performance and public frustration over the Iran hostage crisis contributed to his defeat.

In The Emerging Republican Majority, Kevin Phillips, then a Nixon strategist, had argued (based on the 1968 election results) that support from Southern whites and growth in the Sun Belt, among other factors, was driving an enduring Republican electoral realignment. Many analysts say the trends he described may be seen in the Goldwater-inspired candidacy of Ronald Reagan, as well as the Newt Gingrich-led "Republican Revolution" of 1994 and its Contract With America. The latter was the first time in 40 years that the Republicans secured control of both houses of Congress.

That year, the GOP campaigned on a platform of major reforms of government with measures, such as a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution and welfare reform. These measures and others formed the famous Contract with America, which were subsequently considered by the Congress, although not all items passed. Democratic President Bill Clinton opposed many of the initiatives, with welfare reform as a notable exception. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives also failed to muster the two-thirds majority required to pass one of the most popular proposals – a Constitutional amendment to impose term limits on members of Congress. In 1995, a budget battle with Clinton led to the brief shutdown of the federal government, an event which contributed to Clinton's victory in the 1996 election.

With the election of George W. Bush in 2000, the Republican party controlled both the presidency and both houses of Congress for the first time since 1952. Conservative commentators speculate, and Republicans hope, that this may constitute a permanent partisan realignment.

The Republican Party solidified its Congressional margins in the 2002 midterm elections, bucking the historic trend. It marked just the third time since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress in a midterm election (others were 1902 and 1934).

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Factions of the Republican Party

Religious right - or some argue interchangeably, the Christian right, is an important GOP faction consisting of conservatives united on social issues, embracing traditional Judeo-Christian moral values. They are against abortion and gay marriage and favor school prayer, and interpret the establishment clause of the First Amendment as prohibiting only the official establishment of a state church, as opposed to the more secularist view that the clause prohibits the government from incorporating religion-based values in the law, so as to effect a strict separation of church and state. (Since the 1960s, the latter interpretation has generally been favored by the Supreme Court.) Some estimate religious conservatives represent the largest faction of the GOP in numbers. Prominent social conservatives include Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and Senator Rick Santorum.

Paleoconservatives - This group has a blue-collar, populist tinge with a strong distrust of a centralized federal government, and has heavy appeal among rural Republicans. They are conservative on social issues (e.g. support for gun deregulation) and oppose multiculturalism, but favor a protectionist economic policy and isolationist foreign policy. Many are also active against illegal immigration, or, in more extreme cases, all immigration. Prominent paleoconservatives, such as Pat Buchanan, have spoken against NAFTA and what they see as a neoconservative take-over of the party. Some with similar views are in the Democratic Party.

Neoconservatives - The term may be disputable since many alleged neoconservatives have denied the existence of such a category. Nevertheless, neoconservatives are generally regarded as the most militaristic branch of the party, in favor of an aggressive pre-emptive foreign policy. Many were once active members of the American Left, now "disillusioned" with the perceived extreme relativism and "anti-Americanism" of the 1960s protest generation. They favor unilateralism over reliance on international organizations and treaties, believing such commitments are often against America's interests. They began rising to significant influence during the Reagan administration. Those considered among the neoconservative circles include Jeane Kirkpatrick and Paul Wolfowitz.

Moderates - Moderates within the GOP are an influential minority within the party, most popular in the Northeast and Pacific regions of the U.S. They tend to be fiscally conservative (e.g. balanced budgets) and more progressive on social issues (e.g. supporting domestic partnerships, affirmative action, abortion rights, some gun control measures, etc.). On foreign policy, they are less militaristic than conservatives and neo-conservatives, opting for bilateral negoations and peace talks as a solution to global discord before direct military intervention. Moderate Republicans today include U.S. Senators Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter. Members of some of the other factions sometimes characterize moderates as "Republican In Name Only".

Fiscal Conservatives - This faction overlaps with most other factions of the GOP. They are pro-business free-traders, receiving fervent support among corporations and the nation's economic elite. They favor large tax cuts, reduced domestic spending, privatization of Social Security, and decreased regulation of business and the environment. Prominent fiscal conservatives include the late Senator Barry Goldwater, and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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