We don’t talk much these days about America’s education instilling values and morals, but it was a vital part of education in early America; from Horace Mann’s public schools to early colleges and universities. Public schools were created as a way for citizens to learn shared civic values and also the knowledge required to be participants in a citizen-directed democracy. Early American colleges and universities had the learning of virtues as a part of their mission.
In 2025, the modern Republican party has rejected foundational American values in favor of their own, self-interest based values.
Overall, I identify four core values that drive most of everything that Republicans do. In this article, I discuss the first two values. I will discuss the other two values in follow up articles.
These first two values have about the same level of importance so they can’t be put into a hierarchical order. They first two core Republican values are:
- The accumulation and concentration of power.
- The radical upwards redistribution of wealth.
Each supports the other; the radical upwards redistribution of wealth enables the concentration and accumulation of power. The concentration and accumulation of power enables the radical upwards distribution of wealth.
Both are motivating forces for everything Republicans do.
Examples of recent actions aligned with the radical upwards redistribution of wealth:
- Tariffs shift the tax burden from a progressive tax system, to a regressive tax primarily reliant on poor and middle class citizens.
- GOP opposition to student loan forgiveness, while at the same time forgiving pandemic loans to businesses and Congressional representatives.
- Suspension of the Consumer Financial Protection Board.
Examples of recent actions aligned with the concentration and accumulation of power:
- Giving control of the federal government Elon Musk.
- Executive orders that shift powers of Congress to the President.
- The elimination of the Department of Education and attacks on Critical Race Theory. An educated citizenry is an empowered citizenry. Republicans want to privatize education to reinforce structures of white male dominance.
The radical upwards redistribution of wealth is a value that is also shared by the major donors to the Republican party. As Republicans enrichen their donors, money flows back to the GOP to accumulate more power.
Elon Musk’s elimination of USAID aligns with both of these values on a world scale. USAID facilitated community power. Where USAID distributed resources among needy world citizens, the elimination will cause those resources to revert back to the rich and powerful.
I could continue providing examples, but I encourage you to apply this yourself. For every Republican action, ask yourself: “what is motivating this?”
Is the action motivated by a concern for American citizens? Is the action motivated by a belief in democratic institutions? Is it motivated by American foundational values of liberty, justice for all citizens, or a belief that all humans are created equal and all have certain inalienable rights?
For every MAGA Republican action, the answer to all of these questions is “no “.
It’s worth noting that Republicans will use any argument that will help them actualize these values. For example, they use “state’s rights” arguments when it’s convenient to undermine abortion; then when they want to implement sweeping bans, they will quite happily do it at the national level.
This is why any criticism that Republicans are hypocrites fails; they simply do not care if they are hypocrites. “Consistency” is not a value that brings them money or power.
Unfortunately, Democrats are still operating with party values that have failed them. For example, many Democrats still believe that bipartisanship is something to be valued. Even while Trump demolishes the US Federal Government, some Democrats are still approving of Trump’s nominees who will help Trump further destroy America’s democratic institutions.
Republicans take advantage of the Democrats by exploiting this lack of shared values. Republicans will take what they can get through “bipartisanship”, then steamroll the Democrats for anything else they want.
To the GOP, Congress’s diminished role under Trump is not a loss at all, because America’s tri-partite government is not something they value anymore. In Trump’s 2016 nomination convention speech, he explicitly rejected America’s institutions when he proclaimed “I alone can fix it.” Our nation’s documents outline a vision of America based on equality and justice; two other foundational American values that the modern GOP have completely rejected.
What is going on now with Trump is the culmination of the Republicans putting their core values into action over the last several decades. What Trump is doing aligns with the GOP desires for concentrated power and a radical upwards redistribution of wealth. This is why they will not stop Trump.
These Republican core values are at odds with our traditional Americans values.
A focus on core American values provides an avenue for the Democrats to respond. While some of Trump’s MAGA base welcomes Trump-as-dictator, most Americans are not MAGA cultists and still believe in a democratic government. Democrats should emphasize the foundation of America as a tripartite system of shared power based on democracy and educated citizenry.
Democrats should also emphasize the value of personal character in elected representatives. It’s time to start calling out Trump and his administration for the liars they are every time you talk about them.
They are liars. They are cheats. They are not worthy of the offices they hold.