Growing up in a conservative Republican family, I've voted pretty close to straight ticket R my entire life. It's been my belief that the GOP stood for the things below. I'm curious what most of you believe the core principles of the GOP are currently and if you feel like those principles have changed. I'd also be interested to know if what your personal 3 most important government principles are and if they match up with your party.

Limited federal government with fiscally sound economic policy
-A limited but efficient federal government
-Transparency
-Lower taxes
-Reduced gov. spending
-Low gov. debt
-Preference for states rights

Individual Liberty / Personal Accountability
-The idea of the American Dream and that everyone has the opportunity to make of themselves what they want.
-So long as you aren't infringing on other's rights, the govt. can't dictate how you live your life.
-You are responsible for the decisions you make and everyone should be held accountable and equal under the rule of law.

Capitalism with a market regulations as limited as possible (as opposed to completely free market)
-The general view that the market will dictate its demands and competition will ensure the most efficient supply of those demands.
-Striving for a free market but with some restrictions to address its major criticisms for the overall public interest like preventing monopolies/oligopolies, and protection some things like like access to clean air/water.

Currently, I feel like the GOP principles in practice

Capitalism with a market regulations as limited as possible (as opposed to completely free market)
-The general view that the market will dictate its demands and competition will ensure the most efficient supply of those demands.
-Striving for a free market but with some restrictions to address its major criticisms for the overall public interest like preventing monopolies/oligopolies, and protection some things like like access to clean air/water.

Social Conservatism
-Christian Values
-Anti-Drugs
-Anti-abortion
-Family Values
-Anti-LGBTQ

Limited Federal Government but with an expansion of Executive Power
-Lower Taxes
-Less oversight/transparency

As of late I feel like the GOP acquiesced to some of its core principles, especially, sound fiscal policy, limited federal government, and personal liberty in order to prioritize and implement specific policy goals which at times, run at odds with its other core principles.

For instance, I want taxes as low as possible but not without also reducing the expenses of the government by making it more efficient and at the expense of increasing the debt. I also understand there's valid economic debate that you can use debt to operate most efficiently but in general, we're better off making more than we spend and we're a long way from that.

One of the biggest diversions I've seen is the lack of a demand for government transparency which had always been a staple of Republican views. Especially with the current federal stimulus spending, I feel like everyone should be demanding a full accountability of where all this money has been spent to prevent fraud and abuse.

I just also wish we would be smarter with the money the federal government spends to make sure that we're receiving a return on that investment. As an example, putting money towards education, especially early education, eventually lowers the number of people in poverty and as a result, reduces the money that would be spent in the future on social safety net programs. There's also random things like why we're still subsidizing oil companies when investments in renewable energy would, long term, free up all the money currently spent on energy needs, to be invested elsewhere.

Overall I guess I'm just frustrated with a lot of things in politics these days, along with everyone else I'm sure. I know there's hypocrisy with the Democrats as well but as a long time Republican, I just want to be better than that and sometimes it's good for all of us to look in the mirror and self evaluate.

This post was edited on 8/12/20 at 11:26 am