Factions in the Republican Party (United States)

Former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee

The Christian right is a conservative Christian political faction characterized by strong support of socially conservative policies. Christian conservatives principally seek to apply their understanding of the teachings of Christianity to politics and to public policy by proclaiming the value of those teachings or by seeking to use those teachings to influence law and public policy.[11]

In the United States, the Christian right is an informal coalition formed around a core of evangelical Protestants and Roman Catholics, as well as a large number of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).[12][13][14][15] The movement has its roots in American politics going back as far as the 1940s and has been especially influential since the 1970s.[16] In the late 20th century, the Christian right became a notable force in the Republican party.[17] Politicians associated with the Christian right include former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum.[18]

Senator Rand Paul

Historically known as Jeffersonian Republicans, libertarian Republicans make up a relatively small faction of the Republican Party.[1][19] Libertarian Republicans in the 21st century favor cutting taxes and regulations, repealing the Affordable Care Act, and protecting gun rights.[20] On social issues, they favor privacy, oppose the USA Patriot Act, and oppose the War on Drugs.[20] On foreign policy, libertarian Republicans favor non-interventionism.[21][22] The Republican Liberty Caucus, which describes itself as "the oldest continuously operating organization in the Liberty Republican movement with state charters nationwide", was founded in 1991.[23] The House Liberty Caucus is a congressional caucus formed by former U.S. Representative Justin Amash, a former Republican of Michigan, now a member of the Libertarian Party.[24] Other prominent libertarian Republicans include U.S. Senator Rand Paul and former U.S. Representative Ron Paul.[25] The libertarian Republican wing of the party has significant cross-over with the Tea Party movement.

In the 1950s and 60s, fusionism—the combination of traditionalist and social conservatism with political and economic right-libertarianism—was essential to the movement's growth.[26] This philosophy is most closely associated with Frank Meyer.[27] Barry Goldwater also had a substantial impact on the conservative-libertarian movement of the 1960s,[28] and while the fusion of various factions within the big tent has always been critical, original fusionism saw its peak during the presidency of Ronald Reagan throughout the 1980s.[29]

President George W. Bush

Neoconservatives promote an interventionist foreign policy to promote democracy. Many neoconservatives were in earlier days identified as liberals or were affiliated with the Democrats. Neoconservatives have been credited with importing into the Republican Party a more active international policy. Neoconservatives are amenable to unilateral military action when they believe it serves a morally valid purpose (such as the spread of democracy).[30][31] Many of its adherents became politically famous during the Republican presidential administrations of the late 20th century, and neoconservatism peaked in influence during the administration of George W. Bush, when they played a major role in promoting and planning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.[32] Prominent neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration included John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz, Elliott Abrams, Richard Perle, and Paul Bremer. While not identifying as neoconservatives, senior officials Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld listened closely to neoconservative advisers regarding foreign policy, especially the defense of Israel and the promotion of American influence in the Middle East.

Paleoconservatives stress tradition, paternalism, Judeo-Christian ethics, regionalism, and nationalism.[33] Paleoconservatives tend towards both social and cultural conservatism and as such oppose abortion, affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and civil unions. They are skeptical of modern political ideologies and critical of multiculturalism, generally favoring tight restrictions on legal immigration. Paleoconservatives are generally economically nationalist, favoring a protectionist policy on international trade,[34] and are largely regarded as "isolationalist" on matters of foreign policy.[35] Long-time presidential consultant Pat Buchanan is a prominent paleoconservative.[35] Paleoconservatism in the United States is also closely linked to right-wing populism, which President Donald Trump and members of his administration, like Steve Bannon, have been associated with.[36][37]

Paleoconservatism and right-wing populism have had significant influence on the formation of loosely connected far-right and white nationalist movements in the United States, such as the alt-right.[35][38]

Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin

The Tea Party movement is an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009 following the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States.[39][40] Members of the movement have called for lower taxes, and for a reduction of the national debt of the United States and federal budget deficit through decreased government spending.[41][42] The movement supports small-government principles[43][44] and opposes government-sponsored universal healthcare.[45] The Tea Party movement has been described as a popular constitutional movement.[46] The movement's name refers to the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773, a watershed event in the launch of the American Revolution.[47]

Politicians associated with the Tea Party include former U.S. Representatives Michele Bachmann and Allen West,[48][49] U.S. Senators Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and Tim Scott,[50][51][52] former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint,[51] former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney,[53] and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.[49]

Traditionalists base their ideology upon the political philosophies of Aristotle, Edmund Burke, and Russell Kirk. They emphasize the bonds of social order over hyper-individualism and the defense of ancestral institutions. They believe in a transcendent moral order, manifested through certain natural laws to which they believe society ought to conform in a prudent manner.[54]

The term "South Park Republican" has been used to describe people who hold center-right political beliefs, consisting of fiscally conservative and socially moderate or liberal views, influenced by the popular American animated television program South Park. The show's creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have in the past reluctantly labeled themselves libertarians.[74]

The Log Cabin Republicans was founded in the 1970s in opposition to the Briggs Initiative in California.[75] It works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for LGBT Americans.[76]

The Half-Breeds were a reformist faction of the 1870s and 1880s. The name, which originated with rivals claiming they were only "half" Republicans, came to encompass a wide array of figures who did not all get along with each other. Generally speaking, politicians labeled Half-Breeds were moderates or progressives who opposed the machine politics of the Stalwarts and advanced civil services reforms.[77]

President Theodore Roosevelt

Historically, the Republican Party included a progressive wing that advocated using government to improve the problems of modern society. Theodore Roosevelt, an early leader of the progressive movement, advanced a "Square Deal" domestic program as president (1901–09) that was built on the goals of controlling corporations, protecting consumers, and conserving natural resources.[78] After splitting with his successor, William Howard Taft, in the aftermath of the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy,[79] Roosevelt sought to block Taft's re-election, first by challenging him for the 1912 Republican presidential nomination, and then when that failed, by entering the 1912 presidential contest as a third party candidate, running on the Progressive ticket. He succeeded in depriving Taft of a second term, but came in second behind Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

After Roosevelt's 1912 defeat, the progressive wing of the party went into decline. Progressive Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives held a "last stand" protest in December 1923, at the start of the 68th Congress, when they refused to support the Republican Conference nominee for Speaker of the House, Frederick H. Gillett, voting instead for two other candidates. After eight ballots spanning two days, they agreed to support Gillett in exchange for a seat on the House Rules Committee and pledges that subsequent rules changes would be considered. On the ninth ballot, Gillett received 215 votes, a majority of the 414 votes cast, to win the election.[80]

In addition to Theodore Roosevelt, leading early progressive Republicans included Robert M. La Follette, Charles Evans Hughes, Hiram Johnson, William Borah, George W. Norris and Fiorello La Guardia.[81]

The Radical Republicans were a major factor of the party from its inception in 1854 until the end of the Reconstruction Era in 1877. The Radicals strongly opposed slavery, were hard-line abolitionists, and later advocated equal rights for the freedmen and women. They were often at odds with the moderate and conservative factions of the party. During the American Civil War, Radical Republicans pressed for abolition as a major war aim and they opposed the moderate Reconstruction plans of Abraham Lincoln as too lenient on the Confederates. After the war's end and Lincoln's assassination, the Radicals clashed with Andrew Johnson over Reconstruction policy. After winning major victories in the 1866 congressional elections, the Radicals took over Reconstruction, pushing through new legislation protecting the civil rights of African Americans. John C. Frémont of Michigan, the party's first nominee for President in 1856, was a Radical Republican. Upset with Lincoln's politics, the faction split from the Republican to form the short-lived Radical Democracy Party in 1864 and again nominated Frémont for president. They supported Ulysses S. Grant for President in 1868 and 1872. As Southern Democrats retook control in the South and enthusiasm for continued Reconstruction declined, their influence within the GOP waned.[82]

President Ronald Reagan, namesake of the Reagan coalition

According to historian George H. Nash, the Reagan coalition in the Republican Party, which centered around Ronald Reagan and his administration throughout all of the 1980s (continuing in the late 1980s with the George H. W. Bush administration), originally consisted of five factions: the libertarians, the traditionalists, the anti-communists, the neoconservatives, and the religious right (which consisted of Protestants, Catholics, and some Jewish Republicans).[2][83]

The Stalwarts were a traditionalist faction that existed from the 1860s through the 1880s. They represented "traditional" Republicans who favored machine politics and opposed the civil service reforms of Rutherford B. Hayes and the more progressive Half-Breeds.[84] They declined following the elections of Hayes and James A. Garfield. After Garfield's assassination, his Stalwart Vice President Chester A. Arthur assumed the presidency and rather than pursuing Stalwart goals he took up the reformist cause, which curbed the faction's influence.[77]