Following the end of World War II, Republican and Democratic parties embraced two key principles. One was fiscal discipline even as the nation embarked on rebuilding a postwar society. The other was a foreign policy of coexisting with the Soviet Union while also countering its expansionist efforts that included the development of a nuclear arsenal.
As a result, the United States became not just the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, but also its acknowledged leader.
As the Trump administration and its congressional majority struggle to resolve new versions of those postwar issues, some of the GOP’s own members worry the party is abandoning the principles that have long defined the party.
United by a common economic purpose, Republican and Democratic budget policies led to the emergence of a prosperous middle class. Today, that class is shrinking every year.
The Soviet Union, a wartime ally, collapsed in 1989, yet nearly 30 years later an expansionist Russia is engaged in spreading its power westward.