You can all blame Tim Miller for this entry, actually, you can blame him for this whole series. If you don't know who Tim Miller is, you should, you very much should.
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That's him. Who is he? Tim Miller is an independent journalist for the Bulwark, a former life-long conservative Republican (he worked on the 2016 Jeb Bush Presendential campaign), now an avid Never Trumper, and a gay man who came out in 2007. I consume his podcast, The Bulwark Daily, and other Bulwark media regularly. I find the way he expresses the current state of political strife in the United States and how it connects to the larger picture both easy to comprehend with a slice of encouragement for how to remain hopefully active. He is truthful, transparent, intelligent, and hilarious.
For more on Tim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Miller_(political_strategist)
The Bulwark: https://www.thebulwark.com/I often question how a gay man could have aligned himself for so long with the Republican party, pre-Maga, and as a conservative. But this reflects my apparent bias on what it means to be Republican, the anti-gay, pro-life/anti-abortion party, seemingly not accepting of Tim Miller and his lifestyle. Even though Tim Miller refers to himself as a liberal Independent with no political party, he still seems to hold value to the principles of the Republican party of which he was raised and spent a great deal of his life. Why?
So, I must put aside my bias and reflect only on the philosophy of Republicanism, such like what was done in the last entry with Democratic views as well the pontification college courses do on socialism or communism. Let's set aside also the fear, the anger that rises up when that word "Republican" brings up based on the current actions of those in that party.
Merriam Webster defines Republican as "associated with reduced taxation, with limited government regulation of business, finance, industry, education, and policing, with strong national defense, and with opposition to abortion, affirmative action, gun control, and policies and laws that are viewed as challenging traditional social and family hierarchies and structure" (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/republican). The first section of the definition is perhaps the reason that Miller, other former Republicans turned more liberal, and Never Trumper Republicans adhere to that political affiliation.
For as I read over the factors of reduction of taxatation, limited access of government in matters of business, finance, industry, education, and policing, and a strong national defense those all seem reasonable and acceptable for the means of government. This doesn't mean that I am going to suddenly shift my politics from what it is and suddenly become a Republican (I've actually labeled myself as that in the past, when I was a fundie) but the anti-abortion, anti-affirmative action, anti-gun control, and the strident belief of "traditional family values" are against my moral values.
Reflecting upon the first half of this definition, I recognize the benefit of this political party, why Miller and the Never Trumpers, feel such anguish over what their party has become and are fighting just as hard to retain it back to its pure philosophical intent in practice, as they are fighting for the healthy continuation of other political parties, beliefs, as well the survival of Democracy overall.
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