by Alexandra Hoerl, Faculty Contributor
Republic. Res publica [the things of the people]. A word with a long and seductive history—but what does it actually mean?
The difficulty with writing about republicanism is that the republican tradition began in the classical period and held a position of some prominence until the late 19th and early 20th centuries, [...]

On the heels of a Conservative revolution led by tea-partiers and a shift away from letting centrist Republicans such as John McCain be the face of the party, and after the beginning of Speaker of the House John Boehner’s reign on the Hill, the GOP has shifted its focus to 2012. Republicans will undoubtedly attack [...]

I’ve always said that Republican presidents don’t get the recognition they deserve until they die. Warren G. Harding is the exception to that rule. Immensely popular in the public and in the press during his short time in office, his reputation began a rapid and unstoppable decline immediately following his death. Today, he is almost universally considered the worst of the worst. Phillip G. Payne’s new book, Dead Last: The Public Memory of Warren G. Harding’s Scandalous Legacy examines why.

But as Republicans now know, electing Obama was not the end of the world. Or America. (At least not yet anyways.) Sure, the economy may have tanked, Gitmo is closing, and Rahm Emanuel took control of the media, but at least we still have Keith Olbermann foaming at the mouth each night with Bush Derangement Syndrome, right? (Not even humor can change our current situation!)

Enter the state of the party: We lost the mandate. Once fancying itself as the exuberant voice of the ‘real’ America, the Republican Party has become the very enemy it sought to fight against: big government with high spending. But not only that, in the process we succeeded in becoming the party of stagnant, senior citizens.

“I do not believe that any war can be justified as a crusade…[if you do] you must admit that the Soviets have a right to crusade to impose Communism on the rest of the world…a crusade by its very nature is an aggressive act.” Who said those words? Gene McCarthy? Henry Wallace? George McGovern? If [...]

As John McCain sealed the Republican nomination for President of the United States, conservatives from nearly every part of the Republican Party were upset. Religious conservatives pointed to McCain’s “agents of intolerance” remark; supply-siders lamented McCain’s initial votes against the Bush tax cuts; paleoconservatives saw McCain as a war-monger; and immigration hawks balked at [...]

Richard Mourdock is Indiana’s State Treasurer. After an over thirty year career in the energy sector working as a geologist and consultant, in which he gained substantial fiscal knowledge, Richard was drawn to politics. As a politician, he has held office as the Vanderburgh County Commissioner from 1994-2002, and Indiana State Treasurer. He was also the Republican nominee for the 8th district of Indiana in 1990 and 1992. Possessing excellent speaking skills and an insatiable knowledge for politics and American History, Richard avidly speaks for his beliefs and for maintaining the American and Hoosier way of life.