Republicans love to talk about freedom. They wrap themselves in the American flag, spouting off about personal liberty and the dangers of big government. They want to slash regulations, lower taxes, and get Washington out of people’s lives until, of course, it comes to controlling women’s bodies. Then, suddenly, government overreach isn’t just acceptable but necessary.
For decades, the Republican Party has branded itself as the champion of small government and individual rights. Yet when it comes to reproductive rights, that ideology disappears. Instead of trusting individuals to make their own choices, GOP lawmakers are more than happy to use the full force of the government to strip women of autonomy. They pass draconian abortion bans, criminalize doctors, and even go so far as to restrict access to birth control. The same party that screams about the right to own a gun, the right to refuse a vaccine, and the right to avoid government interference suddenly sees no contradiction in forcing a woman to carry an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy to term.
And it’s not just abortion. The GOP’s hypocrisy runs even deeper when you examine their relationship with Donald Trump. Republicans claim to stand against tyranny, warning against government overreach and authoritarianism. Yet, they have bent over backwards to defend Trump’s blatant abuses of power. They excuse his attempts to overturn a democratic election, his use of the presidency for personal gain, and his open admiration for dictators. When Trump shreds democratic norms, Republican officials shrug. When he incites violence, they look away. When he promises to punish his political enemies, they cheer. These are the same people who call liberals “snowflakes” for demanding basic human rights, yet they fall in line behind a man who cannot handle losing an election.
The contradiction is staggering. If freedom and small government were truly the Republican Party’s guiding principles, they would be fighting for women’s right to choose. They would be condemning Trump’s authoritarianism. But they aren’t, because for the GOP, “freedom” is just a talking point, not a belief.
Their hypocrisy extends even further into the culture wars. Republicans love to decry “cancel culture” when a right-wing figure faces consequences for their words or actions. They defended Elon Musk and Tesla when progressives criticized his political views and called for boycotts, insisting that businesses should operate free of political pressure. But when Bud Light partnered with a transgender influencer, the same Republicans who claim to support free markets led a massive boycott, calling for the company’s downfall over a single ad campaign. So, which is it—do companies have the right to operate as they see fit, or should they be punished for catering to an audience that conservatives don’t approve of?
The Republican Party’s stance on immigration exemplifies a stark ideological contradiction. While GOP officials routinely characterize undocumented immigrants as existential threats to national security, economic stability, and cultural cohesion, their policies often betray an underlying economic reliance on immigrant labor. The party persistently advances draconian immigration policies—ranging from militarized border security to mass deportations—under the pretense of upholding legal integrity and safeguarding American jobs. However, their professed commitment to law and order unravels in the face of corporate interests, particularly in industries such as agriculture, construction, and hospitality, where undocumented labor is indispensable.
Republican politicians who decry immigration as a national crisis frequently turn a blind eye when businesses, including those within their own financial networks, exploit these very workers for profit. The contradiction becomes even more apparent when GOP officials themselves have been exposed for employing undocumented laborers while simultaneously pushing punitive immigration measures. This selective application of enforcement—harsh when it serves to mobilize nativist rhetoric, lenient when it benefits economic elites—reveals a political strategy not rooted in principle, but in the manipulation of public sentiment to maintain power and control marginalized communities for partisan gain.
At the end of the day, the modern Republican Party does not stand for liberty. It stands for control. It stands for a version of America where individual rights only apply to the people who look, think, and believe like them. And until Republican voters and officials are willing to confront that hypocrisy, their cries for “small government” and “freedom” will remain nothing more than empty slogans.