Defining the Republican Party for Canadians

This post has been stewing in my (Mac's) brain for many years now. It started when I moved to Canada and heard the terms Religious Right and Republicans used interchangeably. How facile! Okay, I will give a break as the media has been the filter for most Canadians, and the the media think Republicans are meanies and Christians are stupid for believing what they believe. When you combine the two, Republican politics = stupid meanies. Hence the bumperstickers, "Mean people suck" "Hate is not a family value" "George Bush is mean and stupid". Just watch Keith Olberman's show and you will get a good idea of how the left wing media thinks. I find most Canadians buy into this stereotype of Republicans. My wife was asked just how 'American' I was, meaning, "is he one of those stupid meanies?"

There are two distinct wings of the Republican party: the establishment blue-bloods and the conservatives. The conservatives breakdown into social conservatives and fiscal conservatives. There is mixing of all three groups and the distinctions represent the most important issues.

The blue-bloods are the paternalistic status quo types who represent business interest and old money. This group instinctively believes that the average American needs the intervention and oversight of the government. They don't take hard stands on issues and always seek the compromise. They are afraid of unpopular action that may be the right course to take because it may mean them losing power, which is the worst outcome. Like the Democrats, the establishment Republicans believe that a well run country involves control from Washington. This group does not care for the conservatives and especially the religious conservatives. This group is probably 45-55% of the Republican party.

The fiscal conservatives are budget hawks. They are the low tax low spending crowd. Balancing the budget is their MO and devolving power is the way to do that. This group calls for the removal of cabinet positions and the closing of government departments. They believe too much power is concentrated in Washington and the tax code is used as political payback and punishment. This group does not like the blue-bloods and has an easy truce with the social conservatives. This is probably 30-35% of the party.

The social conservatives want to stem the slouching of American morals. This group can be called the religious right but they are not monolithic. This group fights against the injustice that low morals perpetrate on a society. They see a more violent and inhumane culture as morality is eschewed for a more 'tolerant' position on community standards. They were given a seat at the table under Reagan because they rightly saw communism as a moral evil that must be stopped. This group does not get along with the blue-bloods at all. Indeed the blue-bloods want this religious right out of the party power structure. This group is 10-25% of the party.

How do the candidates line up:

McCain - Blue-blood and somewhat fiscal conservative (He is the elites man)
Huckabee - Social/fiscal conservative (fair tax guy) hated by the blue-bloods and fiscal conservatives because his social conservatism sometimes calls for gov't spending
Romney - Fiscal conservative well related to the blue-bloods
Giuliani - Blue-blood all the way
Paul - Fiscal conservative but really a libertarian
Thompson - Social conservative with some fiscal conservatism