All my life I have heard Republicans lecture about the importance of small government. They said that government should not try to control people, other than protecting their rights. A Republican named William Weld ran for Governor of Massachusetts on a pledge to get government out of our wallets and out of our bedrooms. For decades, Southern Republicans complained about the federal government intruding into “internal” issues like segregation.
How things have changed!
Under today’s Republican Party, the federal government assumes the power to snoop on you at all times.
A blogger who calls herself @JofromJerz posted the following sage observation on Substack:
Republicans want to decide what books you can read, what history your kids can learn, which medicines you’re allowed to take, what surgeries you can have, what gender you’re permitted to be, what sports you can play, which bathroom you can use, who you can love, and who you can marry.
They want to tell you how many dolls and pencils your kids can have and how much food they can eat.
They want to own your library, your classroom, your hospital bed, your bedroom, your remote control, your kitchen table, and your front door.
They want the right to break into your home, disappear your neighbor, take your children, beat you, execute you in the street, and then tell you—despite the evidence of your own eyes and ears—that what you saw is not what you have seen.
They want you afraid: afraid to record, to document, to criticize, to stand up, to speak out, to organize, to protest, to protect, to utter words they don’t like. They want to own the page, the pill, the joke, the chant, the kiss, the very pronoun in your mouth and the weapon on your waist. They want to decide where you can go, what you can say, and which of your rights they can take away.
They want the power to take your life and then lie about it.
They want to play judge, jury, and executioner and they want you to shut up about it or you’ll be next.
This is tyranny failing miserably to masquerade as order.
But sure—tell me how it’s the liberals who are “coming for your freedoms,” won’t you.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
They are the party of many small things — hearts, minds, and parts south of the anatomy — but government? no …
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If you look at the positions MAGA has taken, it’s obvious they have no consistent ideology or core beliefs. The movement simply mirrors whatever Trump says at the moment—without even realizing they’ve just done a complete 180. It’s definitely a cult of personality.
Both parties have a long history of flip-flopping, but MAGA has taken it to an absurd extreme.
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The Republican Party has never been the party of small government. They just used that mantra to shrink the parts of the government they do not wish to pay for. Their predecessors, the Whigs, were all for building national roads and canals back in the 1840s. The first Republican president created a massive bureaucracy to keep the country together. The Republican Party of the industrial era saw nothing wrong with granting land stolen from the natives to large railroad conglomerates.
They always wanted the government to be big enough to keep the destitute from their door, so large military presence has always been a priority. Then came the failure of Republican economic philosophy known as the Great Depression. The programs they always wanted to kill were the ones that helped the people in general as opposed to the ones that made the rich grow their wealth.
The truth is, the only programs Republicans hate are the ones that hold industry responsible for their actions.
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