In Name Only

O Republican, Republican, wherefore art thou Republican? Deny thy forebears and confuse thy name. And for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all.

This name, and the taking done under its auspices, is not the Grand Old Party your grandparents knew, or your parents for that matter. It’s not the GOP you grew up knowing, not anymore.

Republican In Name Only—RINO for short—is the label slapped on anyone deemed insufficiently loyal to the party or out of step with prevailing ideological tastes. Fiscal conservatism and commitment to limited government are out of fashion in today’s GOP. So is free trade and internationalism in foreign affairs. Old-fashioned Republicans who cling to these principles are dismissed as RINOs and drummed out of the party.

The kind of Republicans who are in charge of their party today are increasingly isolationist on foreign policy and protectionist on trade. Despite empty rhetoric to the contrary, they could not care less about the national debt. The last time …