6 Ways Republicans Are Out Of Touch With Regular Americans

By Lina Bryce

The term Republican was adopted in 1792 by supporters of Thomas Jefferson, who preferred a decentralized government with limited powers. Even though Jefferson’s political philosophy is more in line with the modern version of the Republican Party, his faction would become known as the Democratic-Republican Party, ironically evolving in the 1830s into what we now know as the Democratic Party.

Although the Republican party has also evolved throughout history, many question if the party has evolved enough. While the Republicans continue to rely on winning elections on the perpetual “War on Terrorism” alone, here are six more ways the “Grand Old Party” is missing the mark with good old regular Americans.

#1. The War On Drugs

Ending marijuana prohibition would break apart the drug trafficking cartels and keep non-violent criminals out of prison. All the lessons we’ve learned from alcohol prohibition have proven to result in similar unintended consequences.

Although one Pew research poll shows that only a slim majority of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, overall opinions have changed drastically since 1969, when Gallup first asked the question, and found that just 12% favored legalizing marijuana use. The research also revealed that 69% of Americans believe that alcohol is more hazardous to a person’s health than marijuana.

With four states having already legalized marijuana use and 24 states (nearly half of U.S. states) allow only for medicinal use, all arrows point to the inevitable demise to Prohibition. The Republican Party is behind the eight ball once again.