Depends which one you choose

Joshua Micah Marshall 's Elephantis : Weakness in the Republican Coalition ' refutes claims that the Republican Party exists as a big tent ' under which many different viewpoints peacefully cohabitate According to Marshall , this claim is simply untrue because the groups within the party are unable to reach a common ground on a variety of key issues . For this reason , Marshall believes the Democratic Party has many areas of opportunity which it may exploit in to win over American voters , thereby gaining control of the different branches of government . According to Marshall , the twentieth century

Republican Party is consists of two major blocs . The first group is the reactionaries , who oppose welfare and the welfare state and are isolationists in the area of foreign policy . The other group is the reformist conservatives , who despite being critical of government spending and inefficiency , they are in favor of government having an active role in environmental and economic regulation , and they favor many government entitlement programs (Marshall 372 . Because these groups have vastly different views in some areas , political cleavages exist within the Republican Party . A political cleavage is a on which two groups are sharply divided because they cannot come to a point of agreement

Reactionary Republicans can be traced back to the first decades of the century . These party members attacked Franklin Roosevelt and they defended Joe McCarthy . They also tend to oppose the modernism and secularism of American society , as well as the internationalism of foreign policy and the welfare state . Reformist Republicans are overall discontent with the current state of the welfare , though they do not necessarily oppose the goals of the welfare system . These Republicans tend to believe there is a need for public education , a government role in ensuring safety and health at home and in the workplace , Social Security , unemployment insurance , and progressive taxation Specifically , the reformist Republicans opposed the government shut down battles of 1995 (Marshall 371-2

While the division between the two Republican blocs is clearly ideological , there is also a regional dimension to the division According to Marshall , Republicans who are from the Northeast tend to be more centrist and they favor prudent fiscal policy and a moderate cultural message . These Republicans are rivaled by the diehards ' who support a conservative Christian agenda and tax and spending cuts Today , party members who support an ultra-conservative agenda tend to be greatly concentrated in the South (Marshall 374

Marshall cites an article by Christopher Caldwell which describes the effect Southern customs and ideologies have on the Republican Party today . In the past , both parties contained deeply conservative elements Many Republicans have for some time wanted to shed the image of the harsh abrasive ideologies that are held by the ultra-conservative element . However , the Republican Party has demonstrated difficulty with reaching the mass electorate without making an appeal to ultra-conservative , divisive issues . For example , the initiative to end affirmative action and to penalize illegal aliens served to alienate groups which helped elect Republicans in California . These...