structure, functioning as a symbol of institutional order, tradition, and civic and family virtue while protecting property rights. Neoconservatism, meanwhile, tacitly accepts the conservative view that hierarchically organized society is optimal by asserting that government should intervene in social organization to the degree it can "cultivate civic virtue by nurturing traditional institutions such as the nuclear family, religion, and the local community" (Clark, 1991, p. 83). Neoconservative values allow for advocacy of government intervention in markets, however, when the market "unleashes individual desires for sensual gratification that conflict with respect for authority, the work ethic, and the sense of moral responsibility required for an orderly society" (Clark, 1991, p. 83).
The evidence of Republican Party dynamics in recent years is that it is consistent with this perspective; accordingly, the values of patriarchy and traditional society are threatened by feminist thought. On many issue fronts, the Republican party has been increasingly identified with social, economic, and political conservatism as Clark describes it since the 1980s. Writing in the wake of the 1984 reelection of President Ronald Reagan, Abramson, Aldrich, and Rohde accurately predict that "social conservatives are likely to continue supporting the Republicans" (1995, p. 296). The Republican Party appears to have consistently configured itself in line with social conservatism since that time. Of particular note in 1994-95 was the Republican Party's Contract With America, which Rep. Newt Gingrich credits with helping elect Republican majorities in both houses of Congress for the first time in nearly 50 years.
The Contract with America helped focus the 1994 campaign, unified the House Republican Party, and provided a dynamic direction for the first Republican Congress in forty years. Eventually historians and political scientists will study it as a uni...