GOP platform abandons age-old Republican, Reagan-era ideals

I am old enough to remember when the Republican Party stood for fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets, and Republicans believed that top-down government approaches were rarely the answers.

That wasn’t that long ago, but after reading the 2024 GOP Platform, it feels like an eternity.

The GOP’s newest platform paints a bleak picture. “Now we are a Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE. Our future, our identity, and our very way of life are under threat like never before,” reads the policy document. “Today we must once again call upon the same American Spirit that led us to prevail through every challenge of the past if we are going to lead our Nation to a brighter future.”

In response, the Republican policy paper endorses many positions that old-guard Republicans would easily recognize and embrace—including strengthening the military, cutting taxes and eliminating red tape. These are age-old favorites of the Republican faithful, but the platform also abandons some of republicanism’s key tenants—namely support for fiscal conservatism and free trade.

As I have written before, the national debt is one of the most pressing issues facing our country and may determine the nation’s ability to defend itself and remain the free world’s leader. Despite this, the GOP document largely sidesteps the issue. “The platform does not directly mention fiscal deficits, and, apart from curbing government spending, it does not make any clear and detailed promises to rein in the nation’s borrowing,” the New York Times recently noted. This is a disappointing revelation.

Instead of taking our debt seriously, the GOP paper endorses cutting taxes, increasing defense spending and steadfastly opposes any attempts to cut Social Security or Medicare expenditures. While this sounds good on paper and may prove popular in the short-term, it would limit lawmakers’ abilities to balance a budget and be disastrous in the long-term.

Entitlements, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for about half of the federal government’s spending, and defense represents about 13 percent. If entitlements are off the table, military spending increases and taxes are decreased, then how will we ever balance a budget and curtail our mounting national debt? We won’t, and as it stands, the United States is running a deficit of nearly $2 trillion, and has roughly $35 trillion in debt.

This is unsustainable and fiscally irresponsible, and it stands at odds with decades of Republican thought. While Republican hero and former president, Ronald Reagan, ran budget deficits, they paled in comparison to what we are experiencing today, but he understood the need to balance the federal budget.

In a speech, he said, “The integrity to stand for sound money, an end to deficit spending, and eventual retirement of the national debt is not economic theory. Those principles are the very heart of a tried and proven system […] It’s a pity that some seem to have forgotten that.” The same could be said of today’s Republicans—and yes, Democrats too—who have surrendered any notion of substantially reducing wasteful spending, which is imminently apparent in the GOP platform.

Also within it are policies that denote a repudiation of free trade—long held in high-esteem by Republicans. “Our Trade deficit in goods has grown to over $1 Trillion Dollars a year,” the platform reads. “Republicans will support baseline Tariffs on Foreign made goods, pass the Trump Reciprocal Trade Act, and respond to unfair Trading practices.”

Tariffs are taxes levied on foreign-made products and paid for by the importer. While experts can make a case for tariffs in limited situations, baseline tariffs on all products are a terrible idea. The increased costs would simply be passed down to American consumers. So what this is calling for is essentially a tax on Americans—as if inflation since 2022 hasn’t done enough damage to our wallets. This flies in the face of years of efforts to foster unimpeded trade with America’s partners.

In many ways, Reagan sparked the free trade movement by signing the United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement. Former President George H.W. Bush continued this work by laboring to include Mexico in the agreement, which was realized during the Clinton administration—resulting in the formation of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Now America has free trade agreements with 20 countries, and the results have been stunning—providing Americans with access to a host of affordable products.

For whatever reason, the GOP platform seems to cast fiscal responsibility and free trade aside, but it is important to note that the platform has no teeth. It is a guiding document outlining policies that party bosses support. Regardless of the party’s apparent about-face on these issues, many Republicans—elected and unelected—still support them fervently. Even so, the platform shows just how much the party has changed in a relatively short time.