What is it to be a Republican?

When I grew up, people would say that Democrats love bigger government, and Republicans loved smaller government. I was born in 1964. If you read from the party platform in 1964, it had language like this:

"Every person has the right to govern himself, to fix his own goals, and to make his own way with a minimum of governmental interference. It is for government to foster and maintain an environment of freedom encouraging every individual to develop to the fullest his God-given powers of mind, heart and body; and, beyond this, government should undertake only needful things, rightly of public concern, which the citizen cannot himself accomplish."

It went further to say, "We Republicans shall insist that the Federal Government have effective but limited powers, that it be frugal and efficient, and that it fully meet its Constitutional responsibilities to all the American people."

Fast forward to the first strong Republican president of my lifetime, Ronald Reagan. At the end of his presidency, he gave his farewell address, where he said this:

"Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: 'We the People.' 'We the People' tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. 'We the People' are the driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which 'We the People' tell the government what it is allowed to do. 'We the People' are free."

That was twenty-five years later. The philosophy of the Republican Party was indeed limited government.

That seemed to be slipping away until Vivek Ramaswamy came in and started announcing that he wanted to slash the size of American government. He talked of shutting down toxic government agencies, ending civil service protections for bureaucrats, eliminating federal employee unions and so on.

This little known man changed the landscape of the primary and today, President Trump has put him and Elon Musk in an advisory capacity as the heads of the so-called "Department of Government Efficiency." Right in its description, it states simply: "The people voted for major reform." Trump himself said in his announcement about its creation: "They will work together to make the US Government accountable to 'WE THE PEOPLE.'"

That's 60 years during my lifetime of Republican leaders asserting a limited government driven by "We the People."

Here in Texas, it appears that some Republicans don't like this definition of being Republican. They stiff-arm any movement by We the People to push back against a top-down government. This seems to be driven by a faction of the TRCCA, the Texas Republican County Chair Association. Its current president, David Luther, cites previous president and current state rep, Carl Tepper, in saying: "Today, Rep. Carl Tepper, former TRCCA President, was interviewed about the TX House Speaker race. He suggests the current RPT is irrelevant and doesn't represent TX Republicans. He responded to Abraham George's primary threat by saying, 'bring it on.' The RPT only scares cowards."

Luther routinely mocks the choice of the House Republican Caucus, David Cook, who has committed to these reforms, if elected speaker:

  1. Only solicit support for Speakership from Republican members
  2. End the practice of awarding Democrats with committee chairmanships
  3. Ensure all GOP legislative priorities receive a floor vote before any Democrat bills
  4. Replace the current liberal Parliamentarians with staff committed to only offering advice on adherence to House rules, not to advancing their personal ideology
  5. Limit the Speaker to two terms to reduce their power over individual members
  6. Ensure there are no longer any Democrat-majority committees
  7. Stop parliamentary abuse by requiring only substantial adherence to House rules to keep hyper-technical points of order from killing good legislation
  8. Allow audio/video recording of all House proceedings, including point of order debates
  9. Start substantive work as soon as Session begins to end delays that kill priority legislation
  10. Reform the Calendars Committee to increase transparency and accountability
  11. Select a Republican as Speaker Pro Tempore
  12. Decentralize power by prohibiting the distribution of political funds from the Speaker
What limited-government, "We the People"-minded Republican would object to any of that?

Meanwhile, Luther's and Tepper's choice would be the man who lost the caucus vote, Dustin Burrows, who actively and publicly wants to work with Democrats to become speaker and share power.

What's more, these people shun not just the Republican Party of Texas, but the will of the nearly 2 million Republicans statewide who voted in the 2022 primary to not support Republicans sharing power with Democrats.

My county GOP chair is the VP of the TRCCA. Ironically, from our own county GOP website:

"We are committed to advancing limited government, lower taxes, less spending and individual liberty. The Smith County Republican Party’s specific goals are to grow the Republican Party by reaching new voters, advance the Platform, which is grounded in conservative principle, and to keep Texas prosperous and free."

That platform was created by the very Texas GOP that the past and present TRCCA presidents mock and reject. In the top Legislative Priorities for the next session is "The Republican-controlled Texas Legislature shall end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats and require all committees to be majority Republican."

If I'm going to look for a definition of being Republican, I'll look to history, Reagan, Trump, and to Texas Republican voters. I won't look to the TRCCA or its leaders.