Understanding Republicans and the Right in general

I consider myself left of the middle, so align my values closer with Democrats than Republicans. But since at the time of this writing, the ideology between the parties is so polarized, that it seems there isn't a middle remaining to be seen, I'm going to delve into trying to understand the ideology of those on the right, in an effort to better see where they're coming from, and which of their points actually have some validity, and whether their differing views are logical on a completely objective frame of view, or whether they're influenced by other more subjective underlying belief systems.

I'm going to try and be as positive here, without considering the very extremes. In that effort, I'd like to start by identifying what I consider the 7 pillars of Republicanism. To be clear I'm not saying that all Republicans subscribe to all of these pillars, simply that the more pillars one identifies with the more likely they'll consider themselves a Republican.

1. Strong religious Christian faith
2. An uncompromising love of guns and ICE cars
3. Strong Nationalism(love of country)
4. Capitalism as the only viable economic system
5. Distrust of government and fiscal conservatism(less spending by the government)
6. A focus on border protection
7. Harsh punishment for crime

Let's briefly analyze each of these in turn first.

1. Strong religious Christian faith

According to a survey by Pew Research 82% of Republicans are Christians. Coming from that background, they'll have strong, often uncompromising religious views around marriage and abortion. Also strong views around what constitutes a family, and the dominant role of men in a marriage. 

Some recent examples of these have been ones like:

• same-sex couples shouldn't get married or be able to adopt
• women shouldn't be able to have an abortion(except in cases of rape or incest)

The latter is justified by the rights of the infant, whom they'll argue begins at conception. They also believe that it's imperative that a family have a father, the lack of which contributes to many of the problems in society we're seeing today.

Some further on the right would argue that there's no problem in mixing government and religion, although they would likely only agree to that if it's Christianity. In fact Republicans seem to be downright afraid of some other religions, in particular Islam.

2. Uncompromising love of guns and ICE cars

This concept is one of the hardest for me to understand, but despite the number of mass shootings, which are increasing, Republicans will fight tooth-and-nail against any common-sense gun laws, believing instead that it would lead to guns being banned completely. 

Republican States will normally loosen gun laws, as one most recently in Florida to allow concealed weapons to be carried in public without a permit. 

They will cite the 2nd Amendment, and how they unequivocally believe that there should be no limits when it comes to what kind of guns you can have, or where you can take them to. They will argue that nothing will stop school shootings and that the solution is having more guns in the hands of teachers and security guards. That indeed there should be no places where guns are prohibited. They will argue they need the guns for self protection or for hunting, even if it's a semi-automatic that would completely destroy the insides of an animal or a person, and normally a criminal will handle the shocking situation of having a gun pointed in their face, simply because of experience.

Republicans will usually ignore the "a well regulated militia" part of the Second Amendment and argue that the Founding Fathers meant for every individual(rather than an organised militia) to possess a gun. Of course a large part of this belief system was crystallized through the NRA that went from an organisation focused on handgun safety and usage, to one heavily involved in politics and lobbying to get laws passed to make it easier for them to put more guns into more people's hands.

Republicans will also propose  some sensible and some often outlandish solutions to the gun violence plaguing the country. On the sensible side, they argue that more serious punishment of criminals would deter future criminals. On the more outlandish side, they'll think of a hundred different solutions to stop school shootings(security guards, armed teachers, bulletproof doors, bulletproof backpacks, bulletproof popup partitions in schools), basically anything and everything but gun regulation.

To me at least, it seems, whether it be right or wrong, Republicans equate having a gun with the idea of Freedom. 

I mentioned cars under this heading as well, particularly internal combustion engine cars. Much like guns, Americans are in love with their cars. Any mention of using public transport is met with derision, and large fuel-inefficient trucks/SUVs abound everywhere.

Part of that is attributable to the public transport infrastructure being poor(old tracks and slow old trains, and infrequent buses), but part of it is a car culture that likely started with the first cars rolling off the Henry Ford's assembly line. While I share a love for cars, I don't agree that 6-7 lane highways, without any trains is the right way to build out infrastructure. It's great for the petrol industry, but not for anyone else. Most Republicans have convinced themselves that there's no other way, despite seeing examples in Europe, Japan, and many other countries to the contrary. Again there's likely an equating of cars with "Freedom" that is at play here.

3. Strong Nationalism (Love of Country)

Call it patriotism, or Nationalism, but most Republicans have a strong level of pride in their country.

Source: Wikipedia,  Red and Blue States

Many people on the right, who often haven't travelled outside of the United States(mainly for financial reasons), will proclaim that the US is the best country on the planet. That it's the epitome of freedom, and a shining example to the rest of the world. They will also often ignore the many geo-political conflicts that the US has been involved in the past few decades, or try to frame them as beneficial to the rest of the world, as it was in an effort to topple a ruthless dictator or bring Democracy to an oppressed people.

4. Capitalism as the only viable economic system and idolizing the rich

Having spoken to a few people that are Republicans, and another who is a Libertarian, they look down not just upon Socialist countries, but even on social programs designed to help the poor. They  will strongly assert that Capitalism is the only working economic system, and that Socialism has failed in many parts of the world, leaving people with dictators that ended up starving the country in an effort to enrich themselves.

There's definitely a lot of truth to the above, although considering China is an interesting case. It's a self-labelled Socialist country that's become the manufacturing hub of the entire planet. Now don't get me wrong, China has a lot to work on in the field of Democracy.

They also ignore the negative effects of the current state that Capitalism is in  instead blaming Democrats and the left for spending too much.

To Republicans the billionaires that have taken control of many of the industries, and have turned them into pseudo-monopolies, are people to celebrate. Any mention of taxing them a little more to help the poorer segment of the population is met with opposition, followed by cries of "socialism".

5. Distrust of government and media and fiscal conservatism(less spending by the government)

Most Republicans I've met and talked to have three main things to say about government, one is that it should be small, another that you shouldn't fully trust it, and finally that it should spend less on social programs to help those most in need. Their reasoning is that if you give money to someone that's poor they'll just spend it, instead of invest it, and they'll soon be poor again. 

I certainly don't prescribe to the above belief, mainly because the small amount of money given by government to individuals often is just enough to afford food and housing, and it pales in comparison to the amount of money a government will give to a business to bail it out in times of economic trouble. Having said that, I've definitely heard of people living off of government protection that was designed to help people in need, and not searching for work to get themselves out of that situation.

The other key point when it comes to Republicans and government is a mild to serious distrust of government. The mild version of this I think is healthy, because there have been many examples of a dictator-type individual taking over a government and causing financial and social ruin. However fully distrusting your government and your media, calling for your lawmakers to be hung, or lumping all your media, or at least the media that doesn't reinforce your biases, into the "fake news" narrative is very much counterproductive and dangerous. 

Also ironically, Republicans have no problem with the roughly $800 billion that the US spends on the military. That is more than the next 8 countries combined, including their two main adversaries China and Russia. This, they say, is used to keep peace and democracy around the world.

6. A focus on border protection

From showing videos of refugees coming across the southern border, to support for Trump's wall, Republicans have a great interest in making sure that very little or no immigrants come across the border illegally, regardless of whether they're refugees, or illegal migrants. They don't seem to be concerned with the northern border with Canada, mainly the southern border with Mexico, where there's a lot more people that are often poorer coming through.

The reasoning they put forward is that there's a lot of crime and drugs(most recently fentanyl) that's coming into the country via this route. There's definitely some truth to this, but tarring all refugees with this brush is again dangerous and highly unempathetic to their plight. Because it can be a mix, the only way to sort through this, is on a case-by-case basis. 

7. Harsh punishment for crime

While everyone hates crime, Republicans' policies are a lot tougher on crime than Democrats' often tend to be. They would bring back harsher punishments for violent criminals, including the Death Penalty.

This is one area I agree, especially when it comes to recidivist crime, by those who have previously been jailed, subsequently let out, only to commit another violent crime.

While the idea of reforming criminals to become productive members of society may be a noble idea, in practice it hasn't worked well, especially in the case of violent criminals, or members of gangs. I'm sure there's examples on both sides, but statistics point to violent criminals, especially those that are part of organized crime, staying violent, despite the threat of prison.

Having said all that, the US remains the country with the most percentage of the population in prison(one out of a hundred, or 0.7%), and pays a huge amount per person to keep them there. I think this money could be better invested in social programs upfront, especially in poorer neighborhoods, to keep people from joining gangs, or using/selling drugs, rather than do nothing up front, and then spend the money on jails.

Looking at it another way, the US has almost as many people in jail as China, however only 1/4th of the population:

In conclusion, these are the 7 main pillars I've come across in my discussions with Republicans, and others on the right of the political spectrum. I think the monotheistic religion of Christianity and it's views on family and also punishment have a strong influence here, both in a good and a bad sense. In concluding I hope the Left and the Right can resolve their differences, shed the extremists on both ends, and find some common ground. If however either side digs in, and won't compromise the country as a whole cannot move forward, and will end up on a loop of do and undo every 4 years based on their  ideologies, which I think everyone agrees, is just a major waste of money and time.

In my next post I'll discuss what those compromises on each of these items could be.