What is Republican economic policy?

[Redalgo]

So, what is the mainstream Republican philosophy on the major economic issues?

Well, I'd assume the Republican Party's platform would be a fair representation of whatever semblance of equilibrium can be discerned betwixt the organization's conflicted, competing factions. It has been awhile since I last read it but these kinds of documents are usually long-winded and flowery even by my rambling standards. It might be worthwhile for you to consult, however, if you are curious?

To break Republican economic policies down to their foundations though I will try filtering their perspective through a Haidtian lens.

- Violence is unacceptable and some folk deserve some help but most of us can usually care for ourselves.
- Rules must apply equally to all, fraud is unacceptable, and each person deserves to keep what they earn.
- Government is a source of oppression to beware; the onus should be on statists to justify intervention.
- We fit into hierarchies of superior and inferior statuses; privileges and deprivations can both be justified.
- Outsiders are suspicious and possibly malign, so it is crucial to encourage loyalty and in-group solidarity.
- Some ideas and institutions are so sacred that their opponents are surely enemies of the public interest.

Republicans also tend to believe the United States is an exceptional country, its Constitution inspired in no modest part by the will of God, and human beings (including those elected to office) are sinners who cannot be trusted to unwaveringly do what is right for the people as a whole. They are not altogether opposed to making changes to the status quo but tend to be uneasy about it - feeling that the old ways of doing things are adequate and tinkering with them could lead to harmful consequences.

Thus we find Republicans willing to accept some forms of welfare but also going on about moral hazard and the prospect of rotten apples gaming the system. We find them devoted to capitalism yet willing to make exceptions for patriotic causes, national security, and well-established pieces of the public sector. They are fine with many regulations yet also willing to let people make stupid choices, subjugate each other to some extent, and be abused by corrupt figures in the private sector as a tradeoff for guarding themselves from the greater threat of government overreach. Policy considerations are affected by a sincerely-held faith in a "national myth," or glorified and somewhat distorted interpretation of how the United States developed, which gives them an unshakeable commitment to private property rights, free enterprise, and the principle of self-reliance. Their economic views cannot be understood out of context.

Are some party officers and representatives corrupt in their motives? Of course. But to grasp the logic of generally decent, sensible people who stick to conservative policy planks you need to look at the world through their eyes. Without considering how they substantively differ from mainstream Democrats in looking at moral dilemmas and the human condition it becomes all too easy to misinterpret their intent. There are plenty of biases to go around, really. None of us are exceptions to those kinds of influences!

Right now?  Oppose whatever Obama is for.  That seems to sum up what it's become.

In part, yeah, though this probably has more to do with how lots of Republicans reject the legitimacy and respectability of the President's authority. They get so distracted by a perception of Pres. Obama being a foreign and traitorous usurper that they are thinking about economics in a less than strictly rational way, reacting to him with a blend of emotion and reason. It has become so spectacular of a sideshow that the priority in Congress seems to be reinforcing the us / them symbolism of the situation and defeating their common enemy. For better or worse, this is a reflection of Republican desires for a more "American" leader to follow. There is no specific ideology in political economy that motivates their voting behaviour right now.

[Redalgo]

You make the Republican Party sound like a strange mix of Confucianism, Divine Right and the Hindu Caste System.

It can seem like that, sure. Most authoritarian elements of the U.S. population are in the Republican Party but are conditioned by society from early on to express their values in ways that fit into the framework of liberal democracy. Republicans are alright with people shifting in class but there are still plenty of lines along which supremacy is sought over groups felt to be "other" and inferior. Egalitarian values are not integral to American conservatism.

The Divine Right aspect is there to some extent insofar that a lot of Republicans reject moral relativism. There is objective good and evil - a sense that people cannot just amend the Constitution however they like to hand out popular entitlements with each passing generation. Rather, the prevailing thought is that there is something borderline holy about the Founders and their ideas, and that those ideas are in line with the social teachings of Christianity. If their emphasis was truly individual liberty they would think a lot more like libertarians on hot-button controversies. But, as you are well aware, that is not that case and in practice Republicans tend to vocally oppose attempts to separate their religion from public policy.

This applies to patriotic rituals, marriage, adoption, abortion, sex education, media censorship, gender norms, how science is taught, who is trusted around children, suspicions about Muslims and secularists - in the latter case especially those of whom are atheist, etc. Their politics are not decided solely by faith but it plays an enormous role when compared to the reasoning of social liberalists among Democrats. Many of them are influenced by religion too, but the difference is that Dems' political ideals do not really depend on being right about whether any deity exists or whether it wants us all to live in a particular way.

The Republican Party undoubtedly cares about God, discipline, ambition, loyalty, community, and reverence more than their Democratic counterpart, especially if you set aside the so-called RINOs and DINOs when comparing them.

This is not to say mainline Republicans do not have a lot of redeeming qualities. They do, and even those we may dislike happen to have a lot of strengths and advantages that go almost entirely unappreciated. I am just shedding light on some things that folks tend to overlook when they act like politics is all about reason rather than feelings, moral convictions, and subjective interpretations of reality.


As an aside note, I agree with your take on federalism in this thread. Democrats would likewise be strongly in favour of state's rights if the historical trend at the national level was instead in favour of traditionalist policies.