What Happened to the Party of Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower?
Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart The Republican Party began its demise on January 20, 1981, when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as our nation’s 40 th President. He began his first term with orders for every Republican on Capitol Hill. He, alone, would decide policy and no one, regardless of their position or stature, would challenge his authority. There would be no dissent. In a simple term, absolute loyalty would unify the Grand Old Party. Reagan’s popularity grew among the uninformed, although he immediately began his wars on minorities, the working class, women, and non-Christians. These battles continue within our nation today. THE LAST REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT When Reagan left the White House in January of 1989, his Vice President, George H.W. Bush, became America’s 41 st President. Although Mr. Bush was a true Republican and a patriotic American, and was philosophically less demanding and autocratic, the policies of his predecessor were firmly in place. When Reagan’s fiscal policy of “trickl...