Party's Over for Betrayed Republican

[seafan]

Found this editorial from June. It clearly expresses what must be going through the minds of true and honorable Republicans right now.


The direct link to the Oregon paper no longer is active, but found it at another site:


June 26, 2005

Guest Viewpoint:
The party's over for betrayed Republican

By James Chaney

As of today, after 25 years, I am no longer a Republican.

I take this step with deep regret, and with a deep sense of betrayal.

I still believe in the vast power of markets to inspire ideas, motivate solutions and eliminate waste. I still believe in international vigilance and a strong defense, because this world will always be home to people who will avidly seek to take or destroy what we have built as a nation. I still believe in the protection of individuals and businesses from the influence and expense of an over-involved government. I still believe in the hand-in-hand concepts of separation of church and state and absolute freedom to worship, in the rights of the states to govern themselves without undo federal interference, and in the host of other things that defined me as a Republican.

My problem is this: I believe in principles and ideals which my party has systematically discarded in the last 10 years.

My Republican Party was the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Barry Goldwater, and George H.W. Bush. It was a party of honesty and accountability. It was a party of tolerance, and practicality and honor. It was a party that faced facts and dealt with reality, and that crafted common-sense solutions to problems based on the facts as they were, not as we wished them to be, or even worse, as we made them up. It was a party that told the truth, even when the truth came hard. And now, it is none of those things.

Fifty years from now, the Republican Party of this era will be judged by how we provided for the nation's future on three core issues: how we led the world on the environment, how we minded the business of running our country in such a way that we didn't go bankrupt, and whether we gracefully accepted our place on the world's stage as its only superpower. Sadly, we have built the foundation for dismal failure on all three counts. And we've done it in such a way that we shouldn't be surprised if neither the American people nor the world ever trusts us again.

--snip

http://www.forestcouncil.org/tims_picks/view.php?id=1089

[CBGLuthier]

1. GHW Bush

I think he put one too many names on that list of great republicans.

Anyone notice he left out fuckup Hoover and crook Nixon.

Actually, that whole paragraph listing Roosevelt and others has toi be the funniest damn thing I have read in days.

Honesty, accountability, tolerance and practicality. I can't even type it without giggling.

[melissinha]

2. left out Reagan

that stood out to me....


Well done:

We're poisoning our planet through gluttony and ignorance.

We're teetering on the brink of self-inflicted insolvency.

We're selfishly and needlessly sacrificing the best of a generation.

And we're lying about it.

[aquart]

3. He didn't include Reagan, either, did he?

[MidwestTransplant]

4. No Reagan either

[DarkTirade]

6. I'm still of the opinion

that Bush Sr.'s biggest mistake was not wearing a condom that one night.

[krkaufman]

7. Ha!, right, Teddy Roosevelt, too..!!! The king of trust-busting and...

... environmentalism...!!

How deluded.

[krkaufman]

5. His inclusion of Abraham Lincoln with ANY President following...

... the Republican rollout of their "Southern Strategy" is either intentionally misleading or ignorant.

p.s. And, oh, gotta love the fact that he lists Lincoln among his models -- given that Lincoln was the MOST interventionalist President ever!! Lincoln, in fact, is almost the antithesis of modern Republican politicians -- and every other politician in his list.

[Skittles]

9. I HATE it when repugs say THE PARTY OF LINCOLN

Lincoln would be DISGUSTED by today's republicans

[krkaufman]

12. Yep. Precisely. n/t

[noahmijo]

8. other than the praise for Mullah Bush Sr. I loved it

thanks for posting. Sent it to my Republican uncle.

As I said in my personal message to uncle I cannot wait until the true Republicans the Eisenhower Republicans come back.

[cyr330]

10. George H. W. Bush

part of the party of honesty and accountability? Obviously the author doesn't recall the Iran Contra imbroglio. He (the author) needs to pull his head out of his ass.

[Martin Eden]

11. Give the guy some credit

He may have blinders on when it comes to GHW Bush, but at least he hasn't drank the koolaid, knows lies when he sees them, and acted on principle.