The Party of Reagan ...

How did conservatism go from where it was in the 80's with The Party of Reagan to where it is today?

I can't really call myself a true conservative, but I am definitely conservative-friendly. Every online political survey I've ever taken has labeled me somewhere right of center to varying degrees, but I find less and less alignment with our national conservative leaders.

I just read an opinion piece by conservative political commentator, Adam Kinzinger, on Why Republicans are turning against aid to Ukraine. Mr Kinzinger is a USAF veteran of Iraq & Afghanistan and was also a Republican member of Congress from 2011 through January of this year. In his piece he says:

Gone is the party of Reagan, which was steadfast in its stand against tyranny. In its place is rising a GOP that seems immune to the world’s need for American leadership and uninterested in the suffering of a country we should aid until the fight is over.

Obviously, Mr Kinzinger in his essay and I in my post here are talking about Ukraine and Russia. One is led by an authoritarian tyrant who invaded the other, a fledgling democracy trying to shed the systems and institutions put upon it after decades of Soviet rule.

The Party of Reagan would not have taken a nanosecond to decide who to support in this conflict. Sure, they would've approached Ukraine about cleaning up some things (which they are doing), but none of that would have deterred The Party of Reagan from supporting Ukraine to the successful end of this conflict.

So, to my conservative friends ... Help me understand the thinking here? And in your explanations, please avoid the words Trump and/or Biden. Both of them are short-term blips in the history of this great country and in the development of western civilization & democracy.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

Maybe if you were to become more informed than what CNN tells you you would have a much better grasp on world events. Quick question for you. Which leader Putin or Zelinski banned opposition parties, closed churches and shut won the press?

sarabee1995 · 31-35, F

@hippyjoe1955 Oh Joe! Here we go again...

Zelensky closed Russian churches who were connected with Moscow.

And under Zelensky

... the Ukrainian press is considered to be among the freest of all post-Soviet states ...

. according to multiple source quoted on Wikipedia.

hippyjoe1955 · 70-79, M

@sarabee1995 So you think the churches take their orders from the state? Elections have been cancelled, opposition parties banned and the press has been limited in what it can print. Ukraine also tried to keep social media from getting out. So again what horrible terrible crime did Russia commit. If you say invade Ukraine I am going to laugh at you. Ukraine has been killing Ukrainians in the eastern part of Ukraine for years now. Estimates of 16,000 dead Ukrainians at the hand of the Ukrainian government. Their crime? Oh like Zelinski they spoke Russian not Ukrainian.