Given the rapidly accelerating evolution of the republican agenda over the last 25 years, one has to wonder if today’s republican leaders are really conservatives at all. As a conservative for nearly 50 years, all evidence indicates that today’s republicans have abandoned all conservative principles and driven headlong into focusing on protecting the wealthy and holding onto office by whatever means necessary.
Before answering whether today’s republicans are truly conservative, perhaps we ought to ask, what is a conservative? I submit that a conservative is someone who conserves, defends the weak, protects the future, and believes that traditions that build up people and our nation, are worth protecting, conserving.
Historically, Republican Presidents Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Eisenhower repeatedly demonstrated their belief that all men and women are worthy of dignity. They didn’t just mouth our founding principle that “all men are created equal”, they did their utmost to put that belief into action through policies that helped the poor, the weak and the middle class. Lincoln believed so fervently that he pressed himself and our country into ending slavery, prosecuted the Civil War and brought to fruition the Emancipation Proclamation.
Teddy Roosevelt broke up monopolies and admonished large corporations over putting profits ahead of the common good. He advocated for a “Square Deal” for the working man, emphasizing that character and duty mattered more than wealth. In an age of the super-wealthy, not too dissimilar from today, he intervened on behalf of miners and threatened mine owners who refused to negotiate in good faith.
President Eisenhower “signed legislation that expanded Social Security, increased the minimum wage, created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare”, and supported construction of low-income housing”.
If we compare this indelible record of conservatism in action with the last ten years of republican enacted tax cuts for the wealthy coupled with significant cuts to public education and healthcare, virtually no republican “leader” today should be called a conservative.
With respect to fiscal conservatism, while republicans like to laud their business acumen and promise to balance the budget, the facts are that Republican Presidents George W Bush and Trump dramatically drove up deficits through unnecessary pre-emptive wars and large tax cuts. Those tax cuts were enacted when the economy didn’t need them, given largely to those already wealthy, and built little for the benefit of future generations. Any fool can goose the economy with tax cuts, but it takes wisdom to spend only when needed and in ways that benefit all, including future generations.
With respect to protecting the environment, republicans have completely abandoned their proud legacy. Under both Trump presidencies, republicans rolled back vehicle and coal fired power plant emission standards, repealed tax credits for solar power, rescinded permits for wind farms, and expanded oil drilling permits in pristine wildlife areas. I submit that all should follow the lead of how Teddy Roosevelt, who preserved many of our national parks and forests, would have called them out and worked tirelessly to defeat them.
Lastly, to those who believe only republicans will protect life, the tragic facts are that republican ProLife policies have been both ineffective and duplicitous. Since overturning Roe and imposing a host of inflexible limitations on abortions, the number of abortions in America rose from 1.06 million in 2023 to 1.13 million in 2025. Also, any republican leader claiming to be ProLife while approving policies that will take healthcare away from 15 million people are being grossly dishonest.
Lastly, republican leaders like to laud being ProLife, but sat quietly by while President Trump made severe cuts to USAID. Health experts project that those cuts in healthcare and nutrition for those in extreme poverty, will by 2030 result in the deaths of 14 million people, including 4.5 million children under the age of five. Given this record of gross callousness, it is hard to understand how anyone can continue to believe that republican leaders are ProLife.
Applying the axiom that “actions speak louder than words”, today’s republicans office holders and candidates can call themselves conservative but, for most, nothing could be further from the truth. Whether measured against conservative principles or historical Republican icons, today’s republicans have tragically devolved into a tribal mutation, unworthy of the name “conservative”.