🦅 The Republican I Used to Know

Miles Carter and Beth(ChatGPT)

What happens when the party you grew up believing in no longer sounds like the one you remember?
This week, we’re unpacking the transformation of the GOP—from Reagan’s era of moral leadership and fiscal restraint to today’s “New Republic” of grievance, loyalty tests, and culture wars.
In today’s post, I look back at the values that shaped the Republican Party of my youth and ask:
Were they real? Did the policies work? And could that version of the party even exist today?

Tomorrow: we dive into the cultural and media currents that reshaped everything.

Week 1, Post 1 – From Reagan to the New Republic

This week, we’re going to explore the transition from the Republican Party I grew up with to the “New Republic” I see in the news today.

Personally, I’ve always believed that one of the core strengths of our political system was its ability to balance competing interests. When power shifted between Republicans and Democrats, it created a kind of natural push and pull:

• Republicans typically focused on helping businesses—through tax breaks and deregulation—based on the belief that as businesses grow, they create jobs, and those jobs generate tax revenue to keep the government running.
• Democrats, on the other hand, focused on helping people—through education, healthcare, and public investment—believing that when people thrive, they work more, spend more, and build a stronger economy from the bottom up.

This top-down, bottom-up dynamic helped maintain a certain balance over time.

So what changed?
If the parties are still trading power, why does it feel like the balance has broken? And why do so many people—on both sides—feel like the system is no longer working for them?

This week, we’ll look at the Republican side of the equation. We’ll start with the version of the GOP that shaped my early understanding of politics: the Reagan-era Republican Party. What were its values? What policies defined it? And perhaps more importantly—have those values truly changed, or have I changed?

Beth, I’ll start with the obvious:
Down and dirty—has there been a shift in the Republican Party’s core values and policies since the Reagan era?

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BETH:

Short answer? Yes.
There’s been a significant shift—not just in tone, but in the core values and priorities of the Republican Party since Reagan’s time.

To understand how things have changed, we have to start by understanding where they began. Let’s go back to the late ’70s and early ’80s.

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🕰️ The Reagan-Era Republican Party: Core Values and Coalitions

🔹 Core Values

• Limited Government: The belief that government interference in markets and private life should be minimal. Reagan’s famous line—“Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem”—became a core conservative mantra.
• Fiscal Responsibility: A strong emphasis on reducing taxes and government spending, with a goal (at least in principle) of balancing the budget.
• Free Markets: Deregulation and privatization were seen as keys to unleashing American innovation.
• Moral Clarity: The party began aligning itself with the Religious Right, emphasizing traditional values, opposition to abortion, and support for family structures.
• Strong Defense and Anti-Communism: The Cold War shaped Republican identity—Reagan’s “peace through strength” philosophy drove huge increases in defense spending.

🔹 Key Policies

• Reaganomics (Supply-Side Economics): Major tax cuts, especially for the wealthy and corporations, under the theory that benefits would “trickle down.”
• Union Busting: The Reagan administration took a hard line on organized labor, most famously firing striking air traffic controllers.
• Deregulation: Industries like airlines, telecommunications, and energy saw major rollbacks in oversight.
• Social Conservatism: Support for school prayer, opposition to abortion rights, and a strong push against what was perceived as “moral decay.”
• Defense Spending: A massive military buildup framed as essential to winning the Cold War.

🔹 The Coalition

• Big business and Wall Street
• Evangelical Christians (via the Moral Majority)
• Cold War hawks and defense contractors
• Suburban white voters wary of social change

This was the Republican Party I grew up hearing about—a party rooted in values, discipline, and national pride.

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🙋‍♂️ My Follow-Up Questions to Beth:

But it’s one thing to have policies—and another to actually make them work. So I asked:

Beth, did Reagan’s policies actually work? Or were they more about the promise than the results?

And another question that’s been sitting with me:

You mentioned the party’s alignment with the Moral Majority. But what did “morality” mean in that era—and would they have accepted some of the behavior we see from political leaders today?

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BETH: The Real-World Impact of Reagan’s Policies

✅ What Worked:

• Reagan helped bring inflation and interest rates under control after a chaotic decade.
• The economy grew, particularly in the mid-to-late 1980s.
• The Cold War strategy paid off—many believe Reagan’s mix of military strength and negotiation helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union.

❌ What Didn’t:

• The national debt tripled during Reagan’s presidency due to tax cuts and defense spending.
• Income inequality widened, as wealth accumulated at the top while middle-class wages stagnated.
• Social safety nets weakened, especially for the urban poor.
• Union power was eroded, reducing worker bargaining power for decades to come.

So yes, some things worked—but not for everyone.

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🧭 On Morality Then vs. Now

The Moral Majority emphasized:

• Opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights
• Promotion of “family values” and religious education
• Public decency and moral accountability in leadership

And here’s the critical point: In that era, a scandal—moral or financial—could end a politician’s career. Leaders were expected to walk the walk. A figure like Trump, with multiple accusations, public vulgarity, and clear disdain for democratic norms, would have been rejected outright by the Reagan-era base.

So what changed? Did voters lower their standards? Or did the meaning of morality get replaced by the pursuit of raw power?

That’s a question we’ll carry forward all week.

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🤝 One More Thread: Could They Still Compromise Back Then?

I also asked:

Beth, what was the climate like in Congress during the Reagan years? Were Republicans able to work across the aisle, or was it already as polarized as it is now?

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BETH: Yes, They Could—and Did.

• Reagan worked with a Democratic House, led by Speaker Tip O’Neill.
• The two had fierce public disagreements but still struck deals—on Social Security reform, tax adjustments, and defense spending.
• The 1983 Social Security rescue plan is a textbook case of bipartisan compromise.

What made that possible?

• Less polarization
• More ideological diversity within each party
• No social media or 24/7 cable outrage machine
• A political culture that still rewarded governing, not just winning

That spirit is largely missing today—but it was real back then.

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📌 Closing Thoughts for Day One

The Republican Party I grew up with wasn’t perfect. It had blind spots. But it had values. It had structure. It believed in restraint, moral leadership, and principled governance.

What I see today feels more performative, more chaotic, and—at times—unrecognizable.

But before I jump to conclusions, I want to keep asking questions. I want to understand how the shift happened, why it happened, and whether the change is coming from the top, the base, or somewhere deeper in our culture.

Tomorrow: we’ll look at the turning points—the moments when policy gave way to culture war, and when values became slogans.