# What is the real hardcore Republican agenda? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 26, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919 "2012-09-26T20:05:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/21 "2012-09-27T02:18:37Z")
> [@Linden\_Arden](#): > > No, the GOP hates public education because they want mandatory school prayer and Creationism foisted on young minds. > > They don’t give a damn about education quality. That is in essence the hardcore agenda behind the seemingly “fair” idea of “teaching the controversy” It is one of the main components behind the current Republican war on science. > **[The Republican War on Science](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2005/10/republican-war-science/)** > > How the GOP undermines science in the name of politics > [@](#): > > Though no previous U.S. government can match the current one [The Bush II one] for sheer brazenness, other Republican administrations have proved willing, on occasion, to subordinate science to politics. As Chris Mooney argues in his book, The Republican War on Science, disregard for scientists and the scientific method has grown and ripened with the modern conservative movement. From Barry Goldwater’s anti-intellectualism, through Ronald Reagan’s sympathy for creationism and Newt Gingrich’s passion for science “skeptics,” on through the present day, Republicans have shown a marked preference for politically inspired fringe theories over the findings of long-established and world-renowned scientific bodies. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/22 "2012-09-27T02:41:25Z")
Education “reform” boils down to money and nothing else. Texas and the other states spend more on public education than any other single expenditure. The cost of public education is HUGE. There are lots and lots of dollars involved. Soooo: [ol] [li]Impose expectations that public schools cannot hope to meet.[/li][li]Reduce or restrict the resources needed to meet those expectations.[/li][li]Create privately-funded entities to run schools.[/li][li]Exempt these new entities from the expectations public schools must meet.[/li][li]Show how traditional public schools “fail” and private schools “succeed” (ignoring that they are using different metrics for each).[/li][li]Begin funneling public education money to private coffers.[/li][li]Profit! (And by profit, I mean profit HUGE!)[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/23 "2012-09-27T15:13:03Z")
Defunding public schools is one of the conservative goals shared by both economic conservatives, who are opposed to funding anything that serves the common good, and social conservatives, who might very well be for pooling their monies to fund schools, as long as the schools were teaching their own belief system. Economic conservatives don’t want public schools because they are public. Social conservatives don’t want them because they are secular. Breaking teachers’ unions, instituting arbitrary mandatory testing systems, and destroying tenure are part of the larger goal of creating a more powerless, insecure, and lower-paid population of workers, which benefits those who employ them. Different values that happen to overlap, not a monolithic belief system. The part that consistently amazes is how so many working class and poor people have been suckered into believing that somehow policies which always and everywhere have only benefitted the rich are exactly what they want too. Triumph of marketing I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/24 "2012-09-27T17:45:17Z")
The REAL Republican agenda is to go back to the sort of government we had in the 1920s and then some Cut taxes. Get rid of medicare/medicaid. Get rid of social security. Reduce social security and food stamps for all but the most desperate of cases. Get rid of environmental regulations. Get rid of the national labor laws. Cut taxes. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/25 "2012-09-27T21:39:16Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > What effect would that have on the unemployment rate? I could see a lot of jobs being lost, since employers currently have a financial incentive to hire an additional person for any work that needs to be done above and beyond a 40 hour week. I mean, if I’m an employer, I’d rather make you work a 60 hour week for the same money as you at 40 hours/week and a part time guy at 20 hours/week. Yes, but you’d really, really love to work me 60 hours at straight time instead of 40hrs straight and 20 hours at time and a half. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/26 "2012-09-27T21:49:13Z")
The hardcore agenda? Mormon porn. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/27 "2012-09-27T22:09:17Z")
- Economic conservatives support public choice and oppose federal education funding because the public school system is broken, is captured by the teacher’s unions, and is no longer serving students very well. I would say the reason why Democrats tend to oppose all this is because the Teacher’s Unions are one of the primary donors to Democrat candidates. - Republicans campaign on small government and govern as big government status-quo types for the same reason that Democrats campaign on grassroots people power, ending corporate power, promoting civil rights and sticking it to the rich - then govern as big government status quo types: The political machine in Washington has been completely captured by special interests. The rich have done better under Obama than they did under Bush, when they should have been clobbered by the recession. Timothy Geithner is the best friend Wall Street ever had. Dodd-Frank is a mess of special favors and carve-outs and exemptions that benefit the big players and tilt the playing field in their direction. There is a reasonably large percentage of Republicans who are very animated on social issues like abortion and, to a lesser extent, gay marriage. There’s an even bigger percentage of Republicans who don’t care and think that stuff is a distraction from economic issues, and a smaller but not insignificant percentage of libertarian-leaning Republicans who would raise holy hell if the Republican Party ever got to the point where it tried to institute any sort of theocracy or even tried to overturn Roe-v-Wade. That’s why it’ll never happen. If the Republicans had a majority and started trying to push anti-abortion amendments or really crack down on other social issues, enough of them would cross the aisle to thwart it, and they’d lose their majority in the next election. That stuff today is just fodder for the base to get them revved up. The only candidate who really meant it was Santorum, and most Republicans breathed a sigh of relief when he withdrew from the race. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/28 "2012-09-28T23:34:22Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > - Economic conservatives support public choice and oppose federal education funding because the public school system is broken, is captured by the teacher’s unions, and is no longer serving students very well. Where does public education work? Where does solely private education work? > [@](#): > > a smaller but not insignificant percentage of libertarian-leaning Republicans who would raise holy hell if the Republican Party ever got to the point where it tried to institute any sort of theocracy or even tried to overturn Roe-v-Wade. That’s why it’ll never happen. I don’t think there’s really any relationship between fiscal conservatism and opposing impediments to abortion in the Republican party. I’d say Ron Paul is further to the right on both issues than Olympia Snowe for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/29 "2012-09-28T23:49:04Z")
There is none. There **may** have been one **at one time** , but not now. The only thing left is an insane **howling** noise, where plans & ideas once thrived. ---
**Author:** ![NamelessKing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b38774/32.png) [@NamelessKing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NamelessKing)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/30 "2012-09-29T05:10:06Z")
> [@MDKSquared](#): > > I don’t know if there’s a word for this, but I always seem to notice hardcore Republicans proposing some action X because of Y when really it’s because of Z. > > For instance, proposing voter ID laws to prevent fraud, when really it’s because they want to limit the voting power of the poor/disenfranchised who would vote against them. > > Are there other examples of this? > > One of them I’ve always wondered about but was afraid to ask: Why is there this insistence on cutting back education and making it harder to get birth control / abortions? Is it because it’s easier to control a population that is larger / dumber? I’m not asking that in jest – I’m seriously asking. It’s Politics 101. Very rarely does any party do something or advocate for something for its straightforward reason. There is almost always more behind it. Cutting back on education appeases small government fiscal conservatives, and abortion and birth control have to do with the Catholic and Christian vote. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/31 "2012-09-29T05:32:33Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Most of this thread is ridiculously over the top left-wing splurge. > > The “real” endgame for republicans is limited government involvement in the free market… But you have to ask yourself why they want this. It is not a matter of principle, it is a matter of financial opportunity. Republicans want no restraints on any money making endeavor; no environmental regulations, no consumer or worker safety regulations, no minimum wage, no federal income taxes. They believe in the power of the free market so completely, it is an article of faith that any negative consequences will be suppressed by supply and demand, and if they are not, they are by definition, not problems that need addressing. “Liberty” and “Freedom” are just fig leaves for naked avarice. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/32 "2012-09-29T05:56:26Z")
\*Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. \* - John Maynard Keynes ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/33 "2012-09-29T06:06:05Z")
It is instructive to consider what life was like prior to publicly funded education. The population was split between the children attending parochial schools, children left in abject poverty and/or working in factories (or with parents prior to industrialisation, or left to scamper) and a small minority going to elite secular schools. I have a libertarian friend who complains about the public education system in England. While I agree some of his complaints are well founded, I think the solution in all situations is to try and better emulate the education received by the richest in the country (with the unfortunate stipulations that funding and selection will never reach parity). I will remain eternally suspicious of politicians with degrees from prestigious universities advocating for alternative qualifications. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/34 "2012-09-29T07:40:24Z")
There are lots of suppositions on this thread. Why don’t we look at the actual Platform of the Texas Republican Party? Actually, [these excerpts](http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/06/26/15-greatest-planks-of-the-2012-texas-republican-platform)were compiled by Comedy Central. But there’s a link to The Real Thing… A few choice snips–snarky comments aside, most of the text was written by actual Republicans: > [@](#): > > …2. Maybe they’re just jealous of Florida’s voter purge: “We urge that the Voter Rights Act of 1965 codified and updated in 1973 be repealed and not reauthorized.” > > …4. Don’t think of the children: “We unequivocally oppose the United States Senate’s ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.” > > …7. Was it the black helicopters? “We support the withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations and the removal of U.N. headquarters from U.S. soil.” > > …9. At least their policy on Israel is based on a nuanced understanding of American interests and Middle East geopolitics. Just kidding: “Our policy is based on God’s biblical promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel and we further invite other nations and organizations to enjoy the benefits of that promise.” > > …13. REPEAL IT: “We recommend repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, with the goal of abolishing the I.R.S and replacing it with a national sales tax collected by the States.” > > 1. What about Amurican identity? “We believe the current teaching of a multicultural curriculum is divisive. We favor strengthening our common American identity and loyalty instead of political correctness that nurtures alienation among racial and ethnic groups.” > > 2. The plank that explains all other planks: “We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that… have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.” Read it and weep. Read it and scream. (Oh, they left out the call to return to The Gold Standard!) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/35 "2012-09-29T08:37:56Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > \*Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone. \* > > - John Maynard Keynes > [@](#): > > _Capitalism is the well-justified belief that the average person, having to deal with other people on a voluntary basis, will have to satisfy the desires of those people if he hopes to trade with them to his benefit._ - Sam Stone ---
**Author:** ![Untoward\_Parable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/51bf81/32.png) [@Untoward\_Parable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Untoward_Parable)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919/36 "2012-09-29T09:38:36Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > There are lots of suppositions on this thread. Why don’t we look at the actual Platform of the Texas Republican Party? Actually, [these excerpts](http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/06/26/15-greatest-planks-of-the-2012-texas-republican-platform)were compiled by Comedy Central. But there’s a link to The Real Thing… > > A few choice snips–snarky comments aside, most of the text was written by actual Republicans: > > Read it and weep. Read it and scream. (Oh, they left out the call to return to The Gold Standard!) Ya that’s pretty disturbing stuff, shocking but mostly not that surprising other than them saying these things publicly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-real-hardcore-republican-agenda/635919.md?page=1)