The GOP (Grand Old Party), or the Republican Party, as the postmodern public knows it, is a driven, counter-cultural, and traditional machine in the political scene.  In this posting, I intend to outline the GOP as a “political” party, not as a governmental business.

To begin, “politics” NEEDS to be understood as the process by which groups of people make decisions.  It is an emotional and ideological noun that has the tendency to be confused with “government” which is the organization that is the governing authority of a political unit.  “Politics” falls into “government” in the sovereign and administrative terminology.  I am defining and outlining these terms, so when I write them, you understand the meaning behind my words.

The Republican Party has taken many twists and turns which starts from the “Whig Party”, but soon found a different face when taking on the abolitionist’s cause. Keeping in mind that elected officials was the party’s main focus of democracy (republicanism), this led to the stance on the size of government in a citizens life.  This size is known as “small government” and can be characterized by the position it takes on business and government’s role in business. President Lincoln was the first prominent Republican leader by leading the South out of slavery and into “Reconstruction” via agriculture and business.

An example of this small government is the economic platform of the GOP, which, both now and then, is run by a “free market society”. This also known as “capitalism”, in which government is not involved in society’s market. This is thought to be the driving force of the GOP. Even though this is a focus of the party, this not always the case (example).  Again, this characterizes the “small government”. Another term for this type of government is a “weak” government.

Another piece of the Republican pie is how they approach issues to the .  Health care, oil and transportation are issues that fall directly in line with this “small government”.  Military and religious issues fall deeper in the Republican psyche and are characterized by another conservative principle; personal responsibility.

Personal responsibility and self efficacy is value of the GOP and its followers is driven, in my opinion, observation, and experience, by religion. Christianity and its well known stance on purging and excluding of sin from society. Because of the close ties of society and government, Christianity and its stance on personal responsibility is a centerpiece on their platform.  A textual and Biblical example of this would be Luke 9:57-62; Galatians 5:1, 13-25.

“Personal responsibility” is where Christianity propels social issues to the top of the Republican list of priorities. These can loosely be defined as abortion, stem cell research, and homosexuality. Because these social issues are a portion of the pie of the GOP platform, they are amplified to an enormous degree due to modern progressive movements such as legalize civil unions, shutting down all forms of abortion, and eliminating traditional methods of embryonic stem cell research (an old method now-a-days, but still under consideration).

These issues are not cited in a formal matter at all, but these are issues that are in the forefront of the lay, middle class mind, Evangelicals continually hammer these issues at American politics as the main issues. Also, I have little doubt that if anyone were to ask a pragmatic conservative “Are these the three issues that your party’s focal point is constantly on?”, that they will not at all disagree.  Again, they are not the only issues, just three that are amplified.

The GOP, currently, is in the minority with time to spare.  Partisanship keeps them at bay(example) and clings to Evangelicals.  The concrete stance on their platform could hurt their changes in future elections and hope for its current constituents.  This assumption of the GOP history that I have presented, is based off of experience and honest history (I hope, from the citations I have given). The only real reason I bring this subject to the limelight is because of the current political cartel that has established itself as the dominate, religiously correct body.  The weak, small governance and personal responsibility characterizes fear that the right wing has that they may have to pay prices (literal and figurative) on behalf others who do and don’t deserve the help. If you understand that, and the obsessive need to keep government out of your life, then you’ve understood the GOP.
This is all to say that I have not at all mentioned the interaction that Christianity plays in the politics of the Republican Party.  That requires a book’s worth of writing.

Some links to further understand the GOP:

http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/grn.htm
http://www.gop.com/
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/