Quote:
Originally Posted by AnUnidentifiedMale
That's certainly an interesting perspective. I seriously doubt most Republicans would call Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan 'progressives'. And I don't think I've ever heard anyone call the modern-day Republican Party a center-left party. You're the first.
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That's because most people take the platitudes and empty promises from GOP/Democrat candidates and look no further. If you look at the actual governing philosophy of the GOP over the past 2 decades you'll see a distinct leftward march. The GOP used to be the party of individual liberty and small government and those are still their alleged and professed principles. Yet actions speak much louder than words.
The GOP brought us:
the airline bailout
TARP
Medicare part D
the "Patriot" Act
the Afghanistan and the Iraq war
the never ending war on terror
warrantless wiretapping
stimulus packages
No Child Left Behind
Republicans also voted for:
Obamacare (and Romney's healthcare plan in MA was the brainchild that sparked Obamacare)
NDAA
the auto bailouts
Obama's stimulus
The Democrats and the left may feign outrage and shock over Paul Ryan's "extreme" plan for the budget and Medicare but I just shake my head. First of all Ryan's budget doesn't actually cut a dime, it just slows future increases and Ryan takes these "savings" and puts them towards military spending. Also the debate over Medicare is only over how it should be funded, it's basically an accounting debate. There is no more fundamental debate over the role of government or if Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, etc. is even Constitutional or proper. The GOP at one point and time stood against the New Deal and big government but now they don't even debate the role of government. They just squabble over how it should be funded and how large it should be allowed to grow.
The GOP may talk a good game but they don't have the track record to back it up. When push comes to shove they'll, as Paul Ryan puts it, "offend" their "principles" to "save their principles." Or as GW Bush put the GOP will "abandon the free market to save the free market."