I am a republican. Republicans, nowadays, mostly aren't.

When voters elect members of the group that has become the base of the Georgia (and national) Republican Party they are electing folks who hate government (We the People), who think all politicians are crooked, who expect deceit and graft in government (We the People). And their expectations are realized, often by their own behaviors.  I believe Capital-R Republicans are much less likely to respect ALL the people. They are more likely to disrespect the wisdom of ordinary folk, especially lower income, lesser educated, minority, or immigrant Americans. Yes, the Democratic Party also has some lousy crooks, but it is far from an even match-up. The GOP (Greedy Ol' Party) have a much higher incidence of crookedness. 

Small-r republicanism is hard; it is messy, it often fails; but give me "public servants" who believe that title is the ideal, who really believe government is, in fact, "We the People", and thereby should always be of, by, and for the people.

We have watched as our public schools in Georgia have suffered for two decades under the rule of legislators who do not believe in public education. Is it any wonder that when those who do not respect government (We the People) run it they are more apt to expect corruption and even excuse it in themselves? After all they are convinced: "Everyone does it."

It goes back to the Goldwater-Bircher crowd in the late fifties and sixties, and came to power with the Reagan crowd in the eighties, grew truly obnoxious under the Atwater-Manafort-Gingrich-Bush crowd into the nineties and 2000s, and defaulted to pure evil as the Tea Party/Trump/Putin coalition maneuvered to power in 2017.

Again we Democrats have had our share of sleaze; I contend the Republicans in the era of Donald John Trump have much more than their fair share of sleaze. 

I am a republican. I recognize that we must be vigilant. A republic by definition is run by fallible humans: the public. But we must expect and demand that we hold our public servants to the ideals stated so eloquently in the Preamble. Messy and flawed though our republic quite naturally is, I still hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal and endowed with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And that to secure those rights (legitimate) governments are instituted.

I am a republican. But, in my opinion, Republicans, nowadays, mostly aren't.