What Does "GOP" Stand for in American Politics?

In this era of Trump and a modern American schism, age old ideals are beginning to fade, alongside the conditions of how we have adopted our freedom. It seems that, in this day and age, we are not only attacked, but vilified for a number of our own personal ideals and opinions. That's not what this country was built upon. Sometimes I wonder, knowingly so, if George Washington was correct when he had denounced the condition of party politics in his 1796 farewell address:

"The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty."

Here we stand, now cast in the shroud of Trumpism, with such skewed politics that must make diplomats cringe everywhere. Not because of what's been said or being said. Not because of what's been or being done. No, men and women globally are afraid, because values that once stood like giants are now tumbling like leaves in winter. Look at Washington's own assertion, he knew that the power of one man could redefine the very atmosphere of American politics, thereby making it ruinous on account of that leader's hunger for more power. He was right, more so than we could have ever imagined.

The GOP now struggles under the weight of a rather eccentric 2016 campaign pick. Despite winning, the conservatives must fight for air under an administration fueled by bullish blight, seemingly uninterested speeches, and the undermining of many top government officials. Not to mention all the Republicans in Congress who are blowing it, Trump isn't all of the GOP's issues.

In all effects, while the Democratic committee may be demolished after the downfall of Hillary Clinton, Republicans are now faced with not only having to rebuild their party amidst a rocky presidential term, but must find new faces to fill many different voids. In so doing, as values and core meanings are rediscovered alongside new and better faces of political esteem, the scope of the conservative party will soon expand.

Until then, people like you and me are left sitting here, wondering: what does "GOP" stand for in American politics? Let's start with the basics.

What Does "GOP" Stand for in American Politics? Grand Old Party

While "Republican" dates back to Thomas Jefferson's supporters in 1792 and the elephant has served as the party’s symbol since 1874, there is a host of ambiguities associated with the term/acronym ‘GOP.'

Before divisions in the 1830s, the party itself was known as the Democratic-Republican Party, which soon cracked and split into its own faction during the 1850s. Most anti-slavery abolitionists were members of the original Republican Party. These were some of the worst moments in American political history.

Though it, of course, was adapted into a multitude of different connotations, GOP was first short for Grand Old Party, used as far back as the American Civil War. From the references recorded during this time, the original placeholder of the Grand Old Party were, in fact, Southern Democrats. This was amid a time of deep schismatic revolt and trifling.

What Does "GOP" Stand for in American Politics? Gallant Old Party

The first abbreviation of the term in context with the Republican Party can be dated back to the Memphis Avalanche in 1882. Amid this time, in fact, both parties seemed to have a sort of rivalry going on concerning the monicker, until it faded away for the Democrats not soon after.

Despite GOP first belonging to Southern Democrats, it was bequeathed, in a sense, to the Republican Party in the form of an 1888 newspaper editorial by The Chicago Tribune. Grover Cleveland’s term, as the paper cited, would resume “under the rule of the Grand Old Party,” forever etched into history as the Republicans. So, while Trump may love to bash the media as a whole, his party was ironically coined by them over a century before his campaign.

Despite these interesting takeaways, Republican women actually attest to having coined the term in 1875, under the guise “Gallant Old Party,” and the GOP website even agrees, though only with the year, not with the women part. So, even party members don't know, or don't want you to know the truth behind their acronym.

What Does "GOP" Stand for in American Politics? Government of the People

Nowadays, we literally have freaking databases for all the varied acronym definitions associated with GOP. As for the political nature it has provided since conception, GOP's ownership debate still stands.

In a 2011 Vanity Fair/CBS News Poll, 49 percent of Republicans did not know what GOP stood for, and the most popular answer, 33 percent of the vote, answered with ‘Government of the People.’ If you think that's bad, seven percent thought it was 'Grumpy Old People,' and three percent said 'God's Own Party.' I guess that just goes to show how truly uninformed we are about the inner workings of our own political system, the nature of politics, and the importance of our governmental engine.

How do we answer this question, then? Even though half of their own party members don't know what 'GOP' actually stands for, and most citizens have learned to just accept it by now, Republicans still use the acronym frequently. So frequently, in fact, it's literally in the Republican National Committee's website URL.

For most of us, the GOP has been synonymous with the Republican Party, but is it still the same one we've always known? Or, like it's acquainted acronym, has it evolved under this pretext?

What Does "GOP" Stand for in American Politics? Get Out and Push!

In the early years of the automobile, GOP stood for "Get Out and Push!" a common attitude most drivers tended to overuse in the treatment of their vehicles. This, then, evolved into a campaign phrase used by politicians in conjunction with motivating voters.

Now, more than ever, the GOP really does need a good, old fashioned push, and for those who actually get out to do so, they will find the immeasurable depletion of their party reaped by Trump's inadequate leadership. This is why so much of the world has been asking, what's happening to America?

That is not to say that the GOP itself has changed, in fact the party under the term 'GOP' has actually thrived more so than many may have believed in this dreary Trump climate.

Certain ideologies still remain a part of what the GOP is today, such as social conservatism, promoted free enterprise, sustained traditional values, and American protectionism, for a few. While GOP may have gained a myriad of different definitions over the years, it ultimately comes down to this identity. No one can take it away from them, now, and while Trump may seem likely to condemn the party, GOP won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

So, whether you want to call them Grumpy Old People, God's Own, or Grand, the Republican Party will always remain as the GOP, despite many and more of us wanting nothing more than to just get out and push.