Where Did All The Real Republicans Go?

As a spectator in this year's election season I've stumbled to a simple question: Where did the GOP go? To me, the Republican Party centers its beliefs on Federalism (smaller federal government), balanced budgets, less taxes, more financial accountability, freedom of the individual, the importance of personal responsibility and generally less government interaction in citizen lives.

What GOP am I talking about? The GOP of some of the strongest politicians this country has ever had. The GOP used to be strong enough to have solid beliefs, the ability to get things done rather than just toss scattering rhetoric on problems, and political genius enough to comprimise (remember the mind-blowing deal Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton agreed upon to balance the budget in the 1990s?).

These were the principles of the GOP of President Ronald Reagan.

• "Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. "

• "Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty."
• "Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves. "
• "The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much. "

These were the principles of Barry Goldwater:

• "Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.”


• “The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.”

These were the principles of President Abraham Lincoln:

• "And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons."
• "I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."
• "The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

These were the principles of President Theodore Roosevelt:

• "A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues. "
• "Much can be done by law towards putting women on a footing of complete and entire equal rights with man - including the right to vote, the right to hold and use property, and the right to enter any profession she desires on the same terms as the man."..."Women should have free access to every field of labor which they care to enter, and when their work is as valuable as that of a man it should be paid as highly."
• "The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that "There is not in all America a more dangerous trait than the deification of mere smartness unaccompanied by any sense of moral responsibility."problem it will avail us little to solve all others."

These are the principles of Newt Gingrich:

• “It is impossible to maintain civilization with 12-year-olds having babies, with 15-year-olds killing each other, with 17-year-olds dying of AIDS and with 18-year-olds getting diplomas they can't read”
• “All free people stand on Reagan's shoulders. His principled policies proved that free markets create wealth, that the rule of law sustains freedom, and that all people everywhere deserve the right to dream, to pursue their dreams, and to govern themselves.”
• "This is a crossroads for the Bush presidency, ... This is a very exciting period about what is effective government in the 21st century. Either he will be FDR and lead a dramatic change of government, or he will be defender of a failed system. The biggest political challenge for the next two years is to re-center the government.”
• “We probably should have almost maniacally focused on cutting taxes, reforming government, working on saving Social Security, recognize that would cause a big fight, accept that was a better fight for us than drifting into October with, as people kept saying, no national themes, no national dialogue.”

And, finally, these were the principles of President General Dwight Eisenhower:

• "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
• "We have never stopped sin by passing laws; and in the same way, we are not going to take a great moral idealand achieve it merely by law."

The GOP I grew to favor in the 1980s and 1990s is all but gone, deceased in a ramshackle of boisterous idiots running ramshot through the china shop of American politics. Christian Right-Wing Conservatives such as Rev. Jerry Falwell and Rev. Pat Robertson, bigoted blowhards like Rush Limbaugh and U.S. Senator Phil Gramm, and mindless yappers U.S. Representative Michelle Bachmann and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin show how far the GOP has fallen. Even Senator John McCain, a formerly fervent Reagan-ite, has turned into a mush of the political maverick he used to be (and now sits as an uncomfortable puppet of the Karl Roves of the world). In the past, McCain played as the strong Republicans played -- understanding the tenor of the public and welcoming of a new challenge. But today, McCain and Palin stand side-by-side mumbling conservo-speak that appears to mimic the downfalls of George W. Bush's impotent presidency.

Thank goodness there are still some level-minded Republicans out there to save face for the party in lieu of the bungles of the Bush presidency. I'm talking about good, strong Jim Ramstad Republicans that seemingly stopped playing on the national stage once Jack Kemp retired. The Republicans who have the best chance of saving the GOP are its most recent detractors: General Colin Powell and former Minnesota governor Arne Carlson, both of whom said enough is enough with the GOP as it is today and sided with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

It's a bold move for either, but perhaps a strong message to the party -- get off your ass and associate with the public in a way that is effective and rooted in Republican doctrine, not just dictated by high-priced donors with intent on a limited political scale (ie. banning abortion or promotion of big business). It's been far too easy for me to walk away from the Rove-Bush-Nixon-Falwell Republicans and into the arms of smart Democrats the likes of Obama-JFK-Woodrow Wilson-FDR. I'm not alone.

In closing, here are some strong, smart words from the GOP I used to appreciate:

Two of My Favorite Things

Oh, Papa

My affinity for Ernest Hemingway runs deep. I love his writing style, the crazy stories about his life's adventures and his books.

To me, The Old Man And The Sea is as close to literary perfection as a writer can attain. In my own writing I try to live by his journalism-driven mantra of finding the perfect sentence; using words sparingly and precisely.

If you ever wander over to my baseball blog you'll find another item I'm passionate about (these take a close second to the author of this blog).

Here is a great read in the New York Times that reflects everything I love about Hemingway. He was a brilliant man. At times Hemingway could be a great father and at times horrific as a parent. He was a womanizer, yet romantic. He was an artist, but still a hunting, boxing, football, swearing manly man. He was rich, yet loved the idea of the poor and downtrodden (and, while generous, never really helping anyone out but himself). Enjoy!