I have been a political junkie since I was about 9 years old. My grandfather was a GOPer and I helped him stuff envelopes and put out signs…he was a staunch Repub then….the year was 1956.
If the GOP had not gone off the rails I would probably be in the party today….well until 1980 that is……they lost me when they started going after culture as a way to win elections.
Take a long look at the platform from 1956…..everything in there is something I can support….but those days are gone….gone….gone.
Now fast forward to the 2016 GOP platform…….
- American Values
- Marriage, Family, and Society
- A Culture of Hope
- Education: A Chance for Every Child
- Academic Excellence for All
- Choice in Education
- Title IX
- Improving Higher Education
- College Costs
- Restoring Patient Control and Preserving Quality in Healthcare
- Protecting Individual Conscience in Healthcare
- Better Care and Lower Costs: Tort Reform
- Advancing Research and Development in Healthcare
- Putting Patients First: Reforming the FDA
- Advancing Americans with Disabilities
- Ensuring Safe Neighborhoods: Criminal Justice and Prison Reform
- Combatting Drug Abuse
Some parts sound really noble…that is until to read the crap it really means.
Reagan came about and embraced religion as a basis of the party…..and the GOP are the ones that are concerned about another religion taking hold….but they have no problem forcing theirs on the society……
The GOP has become a party of hypocrisy. They feed ignorance to win elections. A shame they are not more like the party of 1956…then this would be a much better country.
Old school conservatism is long gone….replaced with divisive issues that does nothing to move the country forward…..
There is still a bit of the old conservatism left and some of the ideas can be found within the site “The American Conservative”….I may not agree with them all the time but I appreciate the fact that they are a site that has intellectual discourse on what it means to be conservative.
I especially agree with TAC when it comes to international relations….GOP would do well to embrace their policies…..and the world could be a better place.
An interesting take from TAC……
I had an interesting exchange this past weekend at Benedictine College with Prof. Susan Traffas, who argued that conservative Christians cannot abandon politics. In the Q&A, I pointed out that in The Benedict Option, I explicitly say that we cannot abandon politics entirely, mostly because we have to stay in the game to fight for religious liberty. But I also argue that we should reprioritize our approach to public engagement, and spend more time and effort trying to shore up the church and its internal culture — this, because our losses in politics on the issues that mean the most to us are the result of our having lost first the culture. My contention is that conditions have changed on the culture war battlefield, and that means we have to change the way we resist. That is very much not the same thing as surrender.
The GOP could do no better than to find itself in the sea of confusion that it created…..stop insisting on cultural changes and work for the country and society.
Very interesting how that 1956 list sounds surprisingly liberal.. or democratic. Especially 10 and 11 there. Yikes.. protect labor unions?? 🙂 Everything always ends up going full circle.
Once the cultural idiots took over the party then I moved on to better things….but if the GOP would return to 1956 platform I think they could be more successful nationally….chuq
Yeah, you know, maybe it all boils down to the idea that political life need not be an issue of hardline loyalty, or as in the case of conservatism… there’s no room for moderate; that party loyalty means you have to subscribe to the entire doctrine. Screw that. Let’s debate the issues themselves… not how an issue might fall into someone’s political ideology. The fact I’ve been more liberal-conservative means I don’t have a party representing my interests.
The days of a liberal Repub is gone….and I feel the same…I want issues not theatrics from a party without ideas….chuq
I was four years old in 1956. One thing I have learned in the 61 years since then is that the world has changed beyond all comparison with those post-war days. Even in the shadow of the atomic bomb, and the Cold War, people were kinder, intentions were generally altruistic.
All that is long gone.
Best wishes, Pete.
I agree with you….over here people cared about people now it is every man for himself and screw the others….sad chuq
Ashamed to be a republican these days. They think everyone makes at least $100,000 a year.
Exactly…”you do not deserve help if you cannot afford it”….chuq
They think a tax credit to buy and choose your own health insurance is sensible and protects freedom. Huh ? Millions of people have never even written a check, are not on line and go to the grocery store each month to get money orders to mail in payment for their utilities and many can’t create and live on a monthly budget. This is not to denigrate these people but elected officials have no awareness how the “other” America lives.
Exactly….