Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan og Det Republikanske Parti

The Republican Party is a conservative party in the USA. In the USA conservatism is synonymous with tradition-bound, but a lot of their values are similar to the Danish liberals’. They believe in the individual’s free and independent choice and in the competition in a free market, which in Denmark are typical liberal beliefs.

The Republican Party was founded in the early 1850’s by anti-slavery activists, and became a national party in 1856, when John C. Fremont was nominated for President. At this time the Republican Party was considered a “third party”, since the Democratic Party and the Whig Party represented the two-party system. But in spite of this, John C. Fremont received 33% of the votes. The first Republican to win presidency four years later was Abraham Lincoln, who furthermore was the president that freed the slaves.

It was also the Republican Party, as the first major party in the USA to favor women’s right to vote, that played a leading role in securing women’s suffrage. The first woman that was elected to Congress, Jeanette Rankin, in 1917 was in fact a Republican.

In the 100 years after Abraham Lincoln was elected president, The Republican Party was the party that had been holding onto the White House for the longest amount of time. (Source 1)