What is Republicanism? That is not only a good question, but a timely one as well. It's been quite a while since we have seen a genuine Republican in the White House, and Congress, with a few exceptions. Republicanism is quite simply the application of the philosophy or Thomas Jefferson, and his similarly inclined contemporaries. You know those people, the last Americans who had a wonderful collective mind.

Wait a moment, how can a modern "Republican" claim to be Jeffersonian? Isn't that the exclusive property of the Democrats? Hate to burst your bubble, but FDR and his advisors dismantled that identity a long time ago. The Democrats are the party of Hamilton on steroids. That includes such noxious concepts as big government, nationalizing all that is not nailed down,  running everyone's life from the District of Criminals, as if only bureaucrats in the federal government knew how to think. Along with massive regulations came massive spending, with its companions, taxes and inflation. We knew that all along; we accept the Democrats as the party of big government. The Democrats have already played their role in the demise of America. They played it well.

 

Okay, we've insulted the Democrats, and rightly so for ruining America. Let's get on with analyzing the Republicans. This is going to hurt, so keep a hanky ready. Does anyone recognize the Republicans these day? By that, I appeal to Republicans who can think for themselves without watching FOX or worse. We can break it down into a few general parts. Spending, foreign policy, man's natural rights, and the US Constitution (remember that piece of paper that we used to respect?).

 

Republicans used to be for small government, small international footprints, small business, individualism. That came to a halt for bogus reasons that look silly by now. That silliness does not confine or limit the seriousness of the damage that the GOP has committed as of late.

In a dramatic reversal of actually protecting the Republic, the GOP has sought to release the limits on government growth, and clamp down on the rights of Americans. Like the Democrats old song, the GOP sings about how our rights are not so important after all. It's now more about how the federal government is going to keep you safe, and all you have to do is shift more and more power to Washington D.C. After all, we did learn from the Democrats how the federal government executes all its new unconstitutional powers with perfection and gracefulness. Who ever would have thought one day that the GOP would learn to love big, costly government?

 

It is alarming to watch the GOP destroy itself, and ever more alarming is that there seems to be no one that cares within the GOP hierarchy. Oh, they care about winning elections, but not about standing for those philosophies that our founders set up for us. If all you care about is winning, no matter how you do it, you have no claim to be better than the Democrats. They're doing the same thing, of course. Give me a GOP candidate who stands for small government, individualism, no aggression overseas, small business, and I'll do what I can to persuade people to vote for that candidate. Naturally, in the day of mega-government Republicanism, those types are rare.

 

There is a noticeable difference between a party and a nation. Parties come and go, but not a nation. Now that the Republicans and Democrats have sold their souls, who governs this nation favorably? Here is some generous space for you to fill in all the names of politicians that care about the original purpose of America: ____  Having problems thinking of someone? Perhaps we all know a couple of names, but they're not McCain, Guiliani, and their ilk. Even worse, if you heard the debates, you probably realized that there was barely a discussion about policy and philosophy. The only thing missing from the debate was a swimsuit contest, or a spelling bee. Remember when debates were really debates? Yes, I do, too. The audience at the debates behaved like ill-mannered spectators at a professional wrestling match with all their booing and catcalls, mixed with cheering. Could you have imagined that at the Nixon-Kennedy debate? How far we have progressed with our academic sense of things.

 

What about the people themselves? Most people are good-hearted, but too easily suggestible, and too easily pulled away from those institutions that direct them in an appropriate manner. Where were they when the income tax was levied against them? Where were they when FDR turned the US into a near-dictatorship? Where were they when we got sucked into World War I? This is the worst symptom of the decline of America. It was and is up to us to set government right, and not the politicians. There are again, institutional problems that have numbed the American people. To name a few: media, schools, colleges, and social pressures on free expressions by special interest groups. We are now insensible to what is best for America

 

Like the Romans of old, we have seen sports surpass thinking, religion, etc. Sports has become the opiate of the masses. Like the Romans, we go out to conquer other nations instead of befriending them and trading with them. Like the Romans, we have lost a sense of national borders while we try to re-arrange the borders of other countries. Like the Romans, we are spending far too much money and are squandering our resources. Like the Romans, we are on a course of failure, and eventual demise. I'm not saying what I like, not do I have a problem with being optimistic, but I am a realist.

 

Before the GOP plunges into a bottomless cesspool, it might want to re-examine the legacy of a Jefferson, a Goldwater, a Reagan. It has scarcely anyone now, save for a placeholder who is ready to sell out to interests not in alignment with Americanism. Most of Republicans will hold their nose when they vote, but the question is -- why did they vote for this philosophy in the first place? Are they that naive?

 

The Democrats drank their Kool-Aid in the 1930s; the Republicans did the same in this decade. The only thing left to make it a triad is for America to do the same. It already is imbibing, but the process is slower. The sad part is that there is no one in power to recognize that, and care about that. Only a few have, but they are not enough.

 

Am I out of it, or not quite all there? I'm quite sane, and I've read what the founders of this country said and intended, and I can scarcely recognize America. It exists in name only, with a parallel to a corporate icon pinned on its "chest." Symbols cannot replace substance. The founders never wore USA flag pins on their lapels; they didn't need to; everyone knew they were real Americans. It is only the modern politicians that have to wear them, because otherwise, people would not know what country these empty politicians represent. Thus the decline of America. She is dying of lack of interest in her very spiritual  and philosophical existence.