Some may recall my country schoolteacher grandfather, a determined Republican, born two decades after the Civil War in a state that had âseceded from secessionâ to fight against slavery and for the union. An entire wall of books in his hillside home testified to his love of âbook learning.â A believer in individual opportunity and responsibility, he fiercely opposed bigotry and supported limited government and fiscal discipline. His heroes were Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower. To him, the New Deal was overreaching big government coddling the shiftless and curbing cherished individualism. So what would he think about todayâs politics, especially todayâs Republican Party?