GOP: The Party of Pushing Responsibility

For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has branded itself as “the party of personal responsibility.” I will say, if there’s one area where the Republican Party has dominated the Democratic Party over the years, it’s with just that - branding and sloganeering. The only exception to this was Barack Obama’s “Yes We Can!” As has become quite clear in the decade following his presidency, he was an aberration, not the start of a trend. Here’s how the parties’ branding and sloganeering have played out through the years.

GOP: “We are the party of family values!”

Democrats: “Let’s look at these studies about maternity-leave…”

GOP: “Democrats are tax-and-spend liberals!”

Democrats: “Let’s look at the facts. Where did I put my calculator? Honey, have you seen my calculator? Anyway, vote for me.”

GOP: “We are hard-working, God-fearing Christians!”

Democrats: “Hey, if you want to worship a Flying Spaghetti Monster you call Lord Linguini, go right ahead! We’re not going to stop you!”

Of course, the GOP slogans are a load of bunk, but this bunk is sadly what people remember. When going to the voting booths, people are less apt to remembering the results from a study and more prone to remembering a short, catchy slogan, like “The GOP - The Party of Personal Responsibility.” Of all their self-descriptions, this may very well be my favorite. Why? Because, if there were a place called Bullshit Mountain, this self-label would be at its peak.

Remember a man by the name of Richard Nixon, or as some liked to call him, Dick Nixon? Yeah, he was a Republican, not to mention president between the years of 1969 and 1974. Watergate, anyone? Oh, but he wasn’t a crook, no siree. Then came actor Ronald Reagan, who decided, in order for everyone to be fiscally responsible, we all needed the tax breaks to go to the very top of the economic ladder, at which point money would magically trickle down to everyone else. This trend continued under both Bushes - the latter of which moving the bar even higher (or lower, depending on how you look at it), in starting wars with a pair of countries, who had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. That brings us to Donald Trump. Has he ever taken responsibility for something? Anything? Hello? Bueller? I can’t think of a time the aforementioned presidents heeded their party’s brand of “personal responsibility.” It was never their fault; it was always someone else’s. No, they’ve all been about pushing responsibility to someone else.

This isn’t a new thing, but it’s been exacerbated in the age of MAGA. It seems, any time a (likely former) celebrity gets busted with his hand in the cookie jar (meaning a hooker named Cookie), he turns MAGA, saying, “It’s because of all this woke bullshit!” Nothing is ever their fault; it’s the fault of: rappers, heavy-metal bands, violent video games, porn, Reading Rainbow.

I’ve noticed this trend with many Christian leaders and born-again Christians, as well. If someone screws up, just pray; ask for forgiveness; and voila, all is well again. Yet the far-right eats this shit up, not literally, I hope. A self-described “Christian” man can admit he raped a woman; tell his supporters (perhaps voters) he spoke to God about the matter; has been forgiven; and most of his followers sing, “Hallelujah!” like nothing ever happened.

For longer than I’ve been alive, the Republican Party has been anything but the party of personal responsibility; they’ve been the party of pushing responsibility. Maybe that’s why most of them claim to be “Christian,” even though their beliefs run contrary to those of Biblical Jesus; if they screw up, instead of admitting fault, they can push responsibility onto a higher power - whether it be God or Lord Linguini.

https://craigrozniecki.substack.com/p/gop-the-party-of-pushing-responsibility