There was a time when Republicans prided themselves on being the party of the Constitution. A time when words like accountability, limited government, and fidelity to the rule of law meant more than party loyalty. The Republican Party I grew up with would never have tolerated, let alone celebrated, the abuses we now see from this administration. Consider the record…
Federal courts ruled that the President’s unilateral tariffs violated the law, declaring that he had exceeded statutory authority (V.O.S. Selections, Inc. v. Trump, Fed. Cir., Aug. 29, 2025; Bloomberg, Reuters). Had President Obama or President Biden attempted such overreach, Republicans would have cried economic sabotage. Had President Reagan or President George W. Bush done the same, Republicans would have said it betrayed free market conservatism.
When the White House tried to fire a sitting Federal Trade Commissioner, the Court of Appeals intervened, affirming the independence of regulators (Associated Press, Sept. 3, 2025). In the past, such contempt for limits on executive power would have provoked outrage within the Republican Party itself. Now, silence.
The administration attempted to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan migrants, a move the Fifth Circuit struck down as an unconstitutional misuse of wartime authority (Reuters, Sept. 3, 2025). Had Carter, Clinton, Eisenhower, or either Bush tried such a thing, it would have been branded tyranny.
A federal judge halted the use of active duty troops for civilian law enforcement, citing violations of the Posse Comitatus Act (Politico, Sept. 2, 2025). Republicans once said this kind of militarization was the path to dictatorship. Today, they turn away.
Seventeen Inspectors General, the watchdogs sworn to guard against corruption, were fired in one sweep (New York Times, Feb. 2025). When Obama dismissed just one, Gerald Walpin, Republicans demanded investigations. Imagine Nixon in 1973 purging every Inspector General. Even his most loyal Republicans would have drawn a red line.
Most dangerous of all has been the assault on the federal workforce itself. By reviving “Schedule F,” tens of thousands of nonpartisan public servants have been stripped of merit protections and made subject to political purges (Washington Post, Jan. 2025; Government Executive, July 2025). This is not reform. It is the return of the spoils system we abandoned after the assassination of President Garfield in 1881, a system both parties swore off in the name of integrity. No president before now, Republican or Democrat, ever dared dismantle the professional civil service.
And beyond these abuses of law and power lie deeper betrayals of public trust.
The Founders wrote the Emoluments Clause into the Constitution to prevent precisely what we see today. Presidents and high officials are using public office to enrich themselves. Public duty and private profit have become inseparable. This would have been intolerable to any Republican generation that came before.
Conflicts of interest abound. The administration cheers on cryptocurrency markets while shifting regulatory policy in ways that benefit insiders, even as officials themselves invest heavily in the sector. It applauds the rapid advancement of Artificial Intelligence as if it were the crown jewel of American innovation. Yet everyone in these industries knows the truth. Neither AI nor cryptocurrency can grow at scale without renewable energy, and they will need an enormous amount of it. These technologies are energy hungry. Data centers that power AI consume staggering amounts of electricity, and cryptocurrency mining is notorious for its dependence on cheap power. Without abundant renewable energy, these industries will collapse under their own weight or further entrench fossil fuels. That is not innovation. That is national decline.
Past Republican leaders would have seen this contradiction clearly. Eisenhower, who built the interstate system, understood infrastructure and planning. Richard Lugar, who championed global security, would have seen the geopolitical risks. John McCain, who warned of climate instability, would have called out the hypocrisy of waving the flag of future technology while blocking the energy that makes it possible. Yet today’s party applauds AI and crypto while strangling renewable energy. That is not conservatism. It is corruption disguised as policy.
There is also the matter of America’s place in the world. Since the end of World War II, the United States has been more than just another nation. We have been the leader of nations, an indispensable partner in trade, security, and diplomacy. Our allies trusted us not because we were perfect, but because we were steadfast in our commitment to liberty, to justice, and to democratic values. Republican and Democratic presidents alike carried forward this mantle of leadership. Dwight Eisenhower built NATO, Richard Nixon expanded diplomacy, Ronald Reagan reminded the world that America stood for freedom, and George H.W. Bush built a global coalition to defend international law in Kuwait. Even when they disagreed at home, Republicans of that era never abandoned America’s role as a leader and a partner.
That credibility is now badly damaged. When this administration defies court rulings, undermines its own institutions, purges the civil service, and treats public office as a means of private profit, the world takes note. When it glorifies autocrats while berating allies, the world takes note. The damage is not theoretical. It erodes trust in our trade commitments, weakens alliances that have defended democracy for generations, and emboldens adversaries who profit from our division.
None of this would have been tolerated under any prior administration, Republican or Democrat. The GOP of my time would have branded it dangerous, un-American, and unconstitutional. They would have stood up to it not because of who occupied the Oval Office, but because of the oath they themselves swore: to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Where are those voices now? Where is the courage of Barry Goldwater, who told Richard Nixon the truth in 1974? Where is the reason of Howard Baker, who asked “What did the President know, and when did he know it?” Where is the patriotism of Republicans who once understood that loyalty to the Constitution is higher than loyalty to a single man?
To the conservatives who still believe in institutions, in balance of powers, and in the sanctity of our Republic: your silence is not neutrality. It is complicity. This is the moment to stand. This is the moment to reclaim reason and balance. This is the moment to restore patriotism, not in the shallow sense of flags waved at rallies, but in the deep sense of fidelity to our nation’s founding charter.
History will not forgive cowardice. History will not mistake party loyalty for patriotism. The oath you swore was not to a man or a party. It was to the Constitution and to the Republic itself. To honor that oath is the highest act of patriotism. To betray it is to surrender.
The time to choose is now.
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