In today’s political landscape, people use a wide variety of terms to identify their political leanings (Liberal, Conservative, Socialist, MAGA, etc.) and assumptions about a person’s ideas and beliefs are often made based off of those labels. While labels can be useful for shorthand and community building, the meanings of those labels are subject to change. American politics have gone through many shifts since its founding: The parties were not always Democratic and Republican, and we didn’t always have a two-party system. In fact, many of the nation’s founding fathers were against political parties. Two parties (the Federalists and Anit-federalists) emerged during Washington’s presidency, the Democratic Party came about after the election of 1824, and the Republican Party emerged in the 1850s. Throughout the years, the ideals and priorities of these parties have changed, sometimes very drastically. However, at the end of the day, America still operates using a two-party system: Democratic and Republican. The shifts within the Republican party have led each character in Chinese Republicans to have their own unique perspectives and experiences when it comes to the party, and how it has served them. 

Although the Republican Party has been evolving since its inception, this article will be examining its evolution during the lives of the characters of Chinese Republicans. They span several generations, giving each of them a different experience of America’s political landscape. The oldest character is Phyllis. She was born in 1954 (65 at the time of the play), near the start of Eisenhower’s presidency. She was a teenager and young adult during Nixon’s presidency, and in her thirties during the Reagan administration. Phyllis lived through major events such as: The Vietnam War, The Cold War, The Civil Rights Movement, Second Wave Feminism, the Watergate Scandal, and “The Great Inflation,” which lasted from 1965 to 1982. Ellen is the second oldest, born in 1971 (48 at the time of the play), growing up during the Reagan and first Bush administration. Iris and Katie are the youngest, born in 1988 and 1995 respectively (31 and 24 at the time of the play). Born during the Bush and Clinton administrations, they would have been teenagers and young adults during Obama’s presidency. However, Iris grew up in China, away from American politics.  

In Chinese Republicans, it’s Katie who points out that party lines on certain issues were not always as strictly drawn as we see them today. Katie does some research and concludes that, “…all of the greatest Republicans in America have been SOCIALISTS!” She cites several acts passed by well-known Republicans (Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Ronald Reagan), that had large positive social impact. These included establishing new national parks, the Federal-Aid Highway Act, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act. While Katie wasn’t wrong about these acts, the statement of Republicans being socialists wasn’t accurate across the board. Republicans did in fact used to support more ideas and policies that would be more associated with the Democratic Party today. However, as more laws related to social reform came into question, such as the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Rights Amendment, the Democrats began to support them more, and the Republicans began to support them less. They believed that the federal government was interfering too much with people’s rights and worried that it was becoming too powerful. For example: “In 1964, Democratic president Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. In the 1964 election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater publicly opposed the new law, arguing that it expanded the power of the federal government to a dangerous level.”

Up until this point, Black voters were largely aligned with the Republican Party because of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. After this change in the party’s ideology in 1964, many began to switch to the Democratic Party. A similar exodus occurred with women as well. The Republican Party refused to endorse the Equal Rights Amendment, which guarantees equal rights for everyone regardless of sex, in its platform at its 1980 convention. This which was a switch from almost forty years of official party support.  It’s said that part of the reasoning behind this is the opposition that grew for Mary Dent Crisp, a Republican feminist who became party co-chair of the RNC in 1977. She was a little too outspoken and critical of Reagan for the party’s taste and was also a firm supporter of the ERA. However there were other factors, including those actively campaigning against the ERA, such as Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly identified as an anti-feminist and felt that the ERA would take away the privileges that women already had, such as draft exemption. 

In Chinese Republicans, our Phyllis also expresses the doubts she has had about feminism, and her struggles with it and the concept of “having it all,” starting in the 70s. She states,

They’ll throw you a bone by paying you a little more or make you feel safe with these little affinity groups [..] and don’t even get me started on having kids. I almost lost my job after I had Serena. Had to swear up and down we’d get her a live-in nanny just to come back, and that was part-time for a  trial year.

The 1980 Republican Party platform ushered in the election of Ronald Reagan, which led to another major rift within the party. Reagan was, “arguably the first true conservative president in over 50 years,” according to the Reagan Library. Although Republicans and Conservatives are often lumped together, the two are not mutually exclusive. Conservatism is technically an ideology, rather than a political party. It seeks to conserve the past, emphasizing tradition and the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Conservatives tend to push for a strong national defense, a free market economy, and adherence to traditional social values. Reagan’s policies and ideologies reflected this and impacted many different facets of American life. We still feel the impact of some of them today, such as the vilification of Communism, an emphasis on a strong military, and tax cuts. One of Regan’s most notable legacies was “Reaganomics:” The idea that major tax cuts would help encourage economic expansion. While the tax cuts that were implemented did help to reduce inflation, it did ultimately lead to a severe recession in 1982. A strong focus on conservative economic policies, such as tax cuts and limited government servies, has continued to be a pillar of the Republican Party. So much so that it helped lead to another drastic shift within the party: The development of the Tea Party in 2010. It was created in reaction to President Obama’s attempts to stop the 2009 economic crisis, and was also, “…a reformation against the sense that Republicans had lost their way and that was why they lost in 2008.” Members wanted to return to a time of being super conservative.  

When we meet Phylis, Ellen, Iris, and Katie, it’s 2019. It’s almost the end of Trump’s first term, and MAGA has become a new faction of the Republican Party. These characters never explicitly champion any current politicians or candidates, nor do they discuss in depth any current events. However, the label of Republican is an integral part of their identities as ambitious career-women. They don’t always reference politics, but it’s clear that their debates about the choices they make are influenced by the ideals of the party that they’ve aligned themselves with. They grapple with what exactly it means to be a Republican, as Republicans throughout history have also questioned.