Extremism in defense of liberty is not a vice, but I denounce political extremism, of the left or the right, based on duplicity, falsehood, fear, violence and threats when they endanger liberty.
—George Romney, 1964, Republican National Convention One year from now, we will have elected a President of the United States.
Up until 2015, I felt confident knowing that whoever captured the Electoral College had our country’s—not their own—best interests at heart. Then a guy came down an elevator and changed all that.
I want the Grand Old Party back.
The Republican Party which demonstrated under Eisenhower that a president could play a lot of golf and but also take care of business. From the Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, a study of Eisenhower’s papers reveals that “historians now appreciate that Eisenhower recognized the political advantages of working behind the scenes to deal with controversial issues, using his ‘hidden hand’ to guide policy while allowing subordinates to take any credit.”
The GOP which, under Teddy Roosevelt, took on the big boys with antitrust measures. This rough-andready Teddy did not want to abolish big business or stifle capitalism; instead, according to UVA Professor Sidney Milkis “Although this was a Republican administration, it would not give business free rein to operate without regard for the public welfare.”
Where is the Republican vein of George Romney, who refused to support the GOP platform of ““conservative insurgents” in 1964? Over seventy percent of the delegates to the Republican National Convention that year voted down a plank affirming the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress earlier that year.
“The strongest personality on earth cannot deal with the problems of this nation except upon the basis of correct principles,” said Romney at the convention that year. “Our party was founded at a time of grave national crisis. The nation and its destinies were in peril, not only by the irreconcilable conflict between slavery and freedom, but also by the extremism of that time.”
Romney’s son Mitt, who just 11 years ago was the Republican nominee for president, is now a pariah to the party because he finally decided once and for all not to kiss the ring.
Liz Cheney, the daughter of a former Republican vice president, lost a reelection bid because she dared to defend the Constitution against extremists.
Former Illinois Representative Kinzinger admits in his book “Renegade” that like so many other conservatives, he made compromising mistakes in the past decade: “votes of cowardice,” as he admits, along with “fundraising off fear and rage”—a hallmark strategy of the man coming down the elevator.
Conservatives John Boehner and Paul Ryan, both former Republican SpeakersoftheHouse,arguably left public service when itbecameapparentthatthey could no longer work with the conservative agitators. The result? Two weeks ago, House Republicans elected a speaker—second in line to the presidency—who is a 2020 election-denier.
We have less than twelve months to think about our vote and our voice in the 2024 presidential election.
What I really miss is not worrying about whether or not the person who sits in the Oval Office is a Democrat or a Republican. Those were good years, when I colored my little electoral college maps red and blue and loved the history lessons I learned from news commentators.
It is hard to lose one’s political innocence. The trust I had in the system to make wise choices is gone.
And I really miss that.
Snyder, Texas, native Sue Jane Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher whose thought-provoking commentary appears occasionally in several West Texas newspapers, including The Texas Spur and The Caprock Courier.
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