The shocking number of parallels between the Grand Old Party and the world of hardcore gangsta' rap

A t first glance, it would not seem like hardcore conservative Republicans and hardcore gangster rappers would have that much in common. In fact, it sort of seems like the two are exact opposites, if not ideologically, than definitely as far as skin tones go.

But once you get past the superficialities and really examine the two populations, you walk away with a rather startling revelation: for all intents and purposes, republicans and gangster rappers hold pretty much the same ideologies, and behave in practically identical fashions.

On the surface, it seems like there would be a WORLD of differences between the GOP and OPP, but in reality, it’s kind of difficult to separate one culture from the other. What do I mean, precisely? Well, just take a look at the uncanny similarities for yourself:





Both are ardent supporters of capitalism, free trade and unregulated commerce





“We have to make it easier for people to do the things that allow them to rise. We have to let them compete. We need to let people fight for business. We need to let people take risks. We need to let people fail. We need to let people suffer the consequences of bad decisions. And we need to let people enjoy the fruits of good decisions, even good luck.





That is what economic freedom looks like. Freedom to succeed as well as to fail, freedom to do something or nothing. People understand this. Freedom of speech, for example, means that we put up with a lot of verbal and visual garbage in order to make sure that individuals have the right to say what needs to be said, even when it is inconvenient or unpopular. We forgive the sacrifices of free speech because we value its blessings.





But when it comes to economic freedom, we are less forgiving of the cycles of growth and loss, of trial and error, and of failure and success that are part of the realities of the marketplace and life itself.”





Jeb Bush, “Capitalism and the Right to Rise” (2011)





“You don’t have to respect a nigga’ but respect his cash / ‘cause for the money, niggaz will murder ‘dat ass”





50 Cent, “Power of the Dollar” (1999)





Both are known for making homophobic and misogynistic statements





"If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual (gay) sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything.”









“Here is a bachelor comin' straight at ‘ya / I see trim and bag it, take it home and rag it /

the Big Daddy law is anti-faggot / that means no homosexuality.”









“I tell you, you women, why don’t you just make it official, put on some burqas?





And I’ll guaran-damn-tee you nobody’ll touch you. You put on a burqa, and everybody’ll leave you alone, if that’s what you want.”





Rush Limbaugh, “In Defense of Herman Cain” (2011)





“And we walked over to the ho / she continued to speak / so we beat the bitch down in the goddamn street.”









Both claim to be deeply religious, despite promoting hypocritical behaviors and ideals



"It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction. "



"It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction. "

"Maf54: I may be now that your coming

Maf54: who you coming to visit

Teen: haha good stuff

Teen: umm no one really

Maf54: we will be adjourned ny then

Teen: oh good

Maf54: by

Maf54: then we can have a few drinks

Maf54: lol

Teen: yes yes ;-)

Maf54: your not old enough to drink

Teen: shhh…

Maf54: ok

Teen: that’s not what my ID says

Teen: lol

Maf54: ok

Teen: I probably shouldn’t be telling you that huh

Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we don’t get busted"

Mark Foley, "IM Conversation" (2003)





"God gave me style / God gave me grace / God put a smile on my face, ha-ha"





50 Cent, "God Gave Me Style" (2005)





"Y'all niggaz know know what I'm about / Fuck with my dough, then the guns come out."





50 Cent, "Gunz Come Out" (2005)









Both REALLY seem to like the Second Amendment





"I get asked sometimes where do I stand on the Second and 10th Amendment, and I have a little saying...we need a sign at every harbor, every airport and every road entering our state: 'You're entering a 10th Amendment-owned and -operated state, and justice will be served with the Second Amendment.'"



Mike McCalister, "Palms West Republican Club Speech" (2011)





"Goddamn, another payback with a twist / the motherfuckers shot but the punks missed / Ice Cube is outgunned / what's the outcome? / Will they do me like Malcolm...I deal with the devil with my motherfucking steel..."



Ice Cube, "When Will They Shoot?" (1992)





Both aren’t known for being too friendly to Hispanics, Asians or Jews





“ Indeed, of the last seven justices nominated by Democrats JFK, LBJ, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, one was black, Marshall; one was Puerto Rican, Sonia Sotomayor. The other five were Jews: Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan... if Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats... is this the Democrats' idea of diversity? ”



Pat Buchanan, “Are Liberals Anti-WASP?” (2010)



“ Pregnant Asian women pay $15,000 to agents to ensure they are in the United States when their child is born so that they can return home secure in the knowledge he or she will be a U.S. citizen with the right to a U.S.-taxpayer subsidized education in college.”



Pat Buchanan, “Is This Our America Anymore?” (2010)



“Aliens granted amnesty by the DREAM Act will have the legal right to petition for entry of their family members, including their adult brothers and sisters and the parents who illegally brought or sent them to the United States, once they become naturalized U.S. citizens. In less than a decade, this reality could easily double or triple the 2.1 million green cards that will be immediately distributed as a result of the DREAM Act”



Jeff Sessions, “DREAM Act Rewards Illegal Immigration” (2010)





"Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So called chosen frozen / Apology made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus"



Public Enemy, “Welcome to the Terrordome” (1990)



"Every time I want to go get a fucking brew / I gotta' go down to the store with the two / Oriental one-penny-counting motherfuckers / They make a nigga' mad enough to cause a little ruckus."

Ice Cube, "Black Korea" (1991)



“…I’ll stab yo ass / quicker than a Mexican…”



Geto Boys, "Mind of a Lunatic" (1989)

Both are proponents of cultural insulation and elitism

"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny." "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness. We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny."



Ronald Reagan, "A Time For Choosing" (1964)



"Niggaz ain't ready for war / to blast me / ask me / if I give two shits / if you ain't Pharoahs / Q.D. / my kids or my bitch"



Army of the Pharoahs, "Dump the Clip" (2007)





"Niggaz ain't ready for war / to blast me / ask me / if I give two shits / if you ain't Pharoahs / Q.D. / my kids or my bitch"

Both promote “family values,” despite rarely practicing them



"I believe they are awful and I have worked with them, but you are not going to argue here that out-of-wedlock pregnancy and related things are less damaging overall to a life's career than somebody who has been sexually harassed, which, by the way, may also occur in the teen pregnancy and the out-of-wedlock or non-married sexual activity."



Mark Souder, "Cervical Cancer and Human Papillomavirus Subcommittee Hearing" (2004)



"In this poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain. I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process. ... We are a committed family but the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility. Not only am I thankful for a loving family but for a loving God." "In this poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain. I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process. ... We are a committed family but the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility. Not only am I thankful for a loving family but for a loving God."



Mark Souder, "Indiana Rep. Resigns After Affair with Staffer" (2010)

"But your host can't stand me / Wu-Tang for the kids, bust them off for family"

O.D.B., "Lift Ya Skirt" (2003)

"According to the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, O.D.B. (who was born Russell Jones and recently adopted the moniker Big Baby Jesus) stepped before the judge and signed an agreement to pay $35,000 in back child support owed to Icelene Jones, the mother of three of his many children. The District Attorney says that the total amount owed was actually higher than that, but that $35,000 is the amount deemed acceptable by the family and the court. He is due back in court on July 24 to make sure that the agreement is honored."

"O.D.B. Pledges To Pay Child Support in Court" (1998)



They accept SOME people of color as honorary members





“While some African Americans who have been characterized as an honorary White have light skin, e.g., Colin Powell…these are neither sufficient nor necessary for the status. Condoleeza Rice, the Secretary of State under George W. Bush, for example, has relatively dark skin and features associated with African descent but has been characterized as an honorary White based on her forms of speaking and self-presentation, her success in elite, White-dominated institutions, and her conservative political positions.”



Benjamin Bailey, “Language, Power, Race and Class” (2010)



"Eminem is actually quite pale and blond so this latter comparison appears to confer on him an honorary Black status within hip hop."



H. Samy Alim, Awad Ibrahim and Alastair Pennycock, "Global Linguistics Flows" (2009)









Both seem to LOVE Machiavellianism



"Schlesinger was just one of dozens of presidential advisers who behaved like little Machiavellis in the years when revolutions in Vietnam and Latin America brought hysterical responses on the part of the U.S. government. These intellectuals could see no better role for themselves than to serve national power.

Kissinger, secretary of state to Nixon, did not even have the mild qualms of Schlesinger. He surrendered himself with ease to the princes of war and destruction. In private discussions with old colleagues from Harvard who thought the Vietnam War immoral, he presented himself as someone trying to bring it to an end, but in his official capacity he was the willing intellectual tool of a policy that involved the massive killing of civilians in Vietnam.



Kissinger approved the bombing and invasion of Cambodia, an act so disruptive of the delicate Cambodian society that it can be considered an important factor in the rise of the murderous Pol Pot regime in that country. After he and the representatives of North Vietnam had negotiated a peace agreement to end the war in late 1972, he approved the breaking off of the talks and the brutal bombardment of residential districts in Hanoi by the most ferocious bombing plane of the time, the B52." Howard Zinn, "Machiavellian Realism and U.S. Foreign Policy: Means and Ends" (1991)



“Makavelli in this? Killuminati / All through your body/ it blows like a 12 gage shotty"

With both, criminality seems to come with the territory





"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."



"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got."

Richard Nixon, "On Watergate" (1973)



"Damn it feels good to be a gangster /a real gangster-ass nigga plays his cards right /a real-gangster ass nigga never runs his fuckin' mouth / cause gangster-ass niggaz don't start a fight"





Geto Boys, "Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangster" (1992)





Well, that last one does indicate one major difference between the two groups: primarily, the fact that gangster rappers are at least honest about their inherent hypocrisies and dirty dealings.