link to original reddit post by /u/Ksais0


It has become increasingly apparent that the GOP has more factions in it than ever. According to Rothbard, the Republicans began to move away from their former classical liberal ideals and quasi-libertarian isolationism in favor of anti-communism during the McCarthy era, and Bill Buckley/The National Review influenced their continued transformation into the "conservatives" that exist today (the Christian traditionalists prioritizing order) and, later, the Bushite Neo-Conservative globalists. The classical liberal/libertarian old right that originated during the Civil War still existed in the GOP, but they were very much the minority.

The War on Terror has caused the NeoCons in the GOP to lose virtually all of their power. A populist right began to form, made up of the working class in the flyover countries who lost family to the pointless wars, lost jobs due to globalism, and lost faith in the system due to the recession. They were largely leaderless, but Trump changed this. They now largely own the GOP and the NeoCons that still exist (the Bushes, Cheneys, McCains, etc) have largely either spoken out against them or fled over to the Democrats.

There are some positives that I see about this shift, like them being more isolationist, focused on American citizens, more open to certain socially liberal stances (their general acceptance of the LGBTQ crowd and support of lesser charges for drugs spring to mind), against government mandates, are for lower taxes, and their willingness to defend the 2A (politicians like Boebert specifically, not Trump's stupid bump-stock ban). There are also some very bad things, the most prominent being how much money they spend and their unwillingness to protect the free market (especially tariffs).

My question to everyone is whether this this shift is largely a good thing to us more liberty-minded people. Does the rise of the populist right make our goal easier, or more difficult? Will they be more willing to work with us than the traditional conservatives/NeoCons are? Can they be convinced to be more in favor of classical liberal/libertarian values?