When a Republican in the Iowa House announced his defection to the Democrat Party, he blamed the GOP. He said the Republican Party had changed drastically since he first served in the legislature.
That’s a talking point espoused by many Leftists. The GOP is “out of touch.” The GOP is “extreme.” The GOP has taken a “hard turn right.”
Really?
Think about it. Think about it really hard and ask yourself, is it really the Republican Party that has changed in the last 15 years or so?
Let’s look at the issues people typically label Republicans as being “extreme” on…
Same-sex marriage: In 1998, Barack Obama was “undecided” about same-sex marriage. In 2004, Barack Obama said marriage is not a basic civil right. According to Obama, marriage was between a man and a woman in 2004. Then in 2010 Obama’s view on same-sex marriage started to “evolve.” Finally, in 2012, Obama became the first president to support same-sex marriage.
Republicans defending traditional, biblical marriage is not a “change” in the Republican Party. The change on the issue is from the Left who embraced erotic liberty over basic biology.
Abortion: In 1982 Joe Biden voted for a constitutional amendment that would have let states overturn Roe v. Wade.
Fast forward to today and Democrats across the country and in Washington D.C. won’t even vote for legislation to protect babies born alive. In the Democrat Party of 2019, the most cherished right isn’t the right to life, but the right to an abortion.
According to Slate, shortly after Democrats for Life of America was founded in the late 1990s, the website listed more than 40 members of Congress it identified as pro-life who were Democrats. In 2009 there were enough supposed pro-life Democrats to hold up ObamaCare until they were able to vote on a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions. In 2018 Democrats For Life listed seven candidates it could endorse in the House and Senate combined. Seven. Democrats For Life found one woman to endorse.
The “radical Republican idea” that life begins at conception and unborn babies should be protected is nothing new.
According to Gallup, in 1975 25 percent of Republicans thought abortion should be illegal in all cases. In 2018 27 percent of Republicans believe abortion should be illegal in all cases. That number has gone up and down, but it’s relatively steady. There were 18 percent of Republicans in 1975 who thought abortion should be legal in any circumstance. That number in 2018 was at 11 percent. Again, not a huge range.
Democrats, though, have changed. In 1975 only 19 percent of Democrats believed abortion should be legal under any circumstance. In 2018 that number was at 46 percent. In 1975 26 percent of Democrats (a larger percentage than the 25 percent figure of Republicans) believed abortion should be illegal in all cases. In 2018 only 11 percent of Democrats believe abortion should be illegal in all cases.
Staggering. Republicans haven’t suddenly decided to defend life. Democrats have gradually decided to end it in the womb.
Illegal immigration: Similar shifts have happened in the debate on illegal immigration. In 1994 Dianne Feinstein said the federal government doesn’t enforce its borders adequately. She talked about the consequences the flow of illegal immigrants had on social services.
In 1995 Bill Clinton said Americans are rightly disturbed the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country.
In 1996 Bill Clinton told Congress his administration took a strong stand to stiffen the protection of America’s borders.
The 1996 Democrat Party platform said:
“Today’s Democratic Party also believes we must remain a nation of laws. We cannot tolerate illegal immigration and we must stop it.”
When Kirsten Gillibrand served in the House of Representatives, she wanted to expand deportations. That was between 2007-09. Now she wants to abolish ICE.
Republicans, not all of them, are great at standing up to big ag and other employers who benefit from America’s laws being violated, but as a whole that’s what the GOP is supposed to stand for. Again, this is not a major shift.
Health care: Joe Biden just backed health care for illegal immigrants. If the government is going to pay for this health care for illegal immigrants, that means legal citizens are going to be footing the bill for illegal immigrants.
And legal citizens are struggling to pay for their own health care, let alone the health care of people who have no right to be in America. It’s one thing to be charitable and another to be reckless.
Kamala Harris said she supports eliminating the private health insurance industry, but now says that was not what she meant.
All of us are well aware of the push for Medicare For All. Just five or so years ago it was unlikely to happen — ever. Now two-thirds of Democrats, 15 U.S. Senators and the majority of Democratic representatives support the plan, according to the Harvard Political Review.
Transgender issue: Are we really to believe it is the Republicans who have changed on this issue? That Democrats for the last 40 years have been fighting to allow 40-year old men who think they’re women to use the stall next to a 6-year old little girl?
Come on. If the Democrat Party would’ve adopted that position 20 years ago it would be extinct today.
I didn’t want to spend a bunch of time on it, but I’m fairly certain it will be nearly impossible to find Democrats from 10, 20, 30 years ago coming out strongly against this transgender movement because nobody in their right mind would’ve given the movement any serious credibility at that time.
Have Republicans changed in the last two decades? Sure.
But Democrats have lost their minds.
