By Edwin Cooney
The Republican Party died at its off-and-on-again residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. on Thursday, August 27th, 2020.
There's some dispute as to whether the Republican Party was born in Jackson, Michigan or Ripon, Wisconsin in 1854 but there's little doubt as to its purpose. It stood for reform and it stood for union. Its first presidential candidate, John Charles Fremont, was the illegitimate son of an immigrant mother. Although a brilliant surveyor and field commander, he had a tendency to overstep his military and executive authority. Its second nominee was a humble backwoods rail splitter born in Kentucky and raised in Indiana who came to both legal and political prominence and some good fortune in Illinois.
The party’s origins were primarily midwestern and northeastern. Its opponents were primarily southern states-righters. In the traditions of the Adams, Clays, and Websters, the GOP stood for what its founders regarded as "the American System," a combination of good government and a prevailing standard of good citizenship and private enterprise. (Some historians even insist that the Republican Party's heritage goes back through the Whig party of the 1830s and 40s and back still further to the Federalists of George Washington, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton.) Its pedigree was far from perfect, but it was born to mean well. Within its first two decades it could and did brag of its gifts to the public: victory in the Civil War and passage of three constitutional amendments that expanded liberty as long as the Congress and the Supreme Court would allow such progress to prevail. Additionally, there was the completion of a national railroad and the establishment of the land-grant college system followed by the party's efforts at civil service reform.
Recognizing government as the legitimate tool of John and Susie Q Citizen, Teddy Roosevelt led the party to tackle such needs as preserving the environment, establishing a food and drug administration, and the protection of consumer products. Finally, in 1910, Teddy Roosevelt asserted in a speech in Osawatomie, Kansas that human rights ought generally to prevail over property rights.
Like its Democratic cousin, it was vulnerable to idealistic factionalism and changes in various circumstances, foreign and domestic. The GOP's greatest leaders, Eisenhower and Reagan, left behind achievements that broad sections in both major parties could applaud despite some grades of differences of appreciation between them. Occasionally political candidates in both parties have presented themselves and their platforms as significantly different from conventional candidates. "A choice not an echo" was the cry of the Goldwaterites in 1964. That cry constituted a shift in the regional background of the GOP from an eastern-oriented party to a southern and western brand of conservatism which began the Republican party's trek to today.
Since its beginning, the political party system has been suspect by millions of Americans — beginning with the “father of our country” General George Washington. Two members of his original cabinet for whom he had considerable affection, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, formed the first two political parties, Democratic-Republicans and Federalists. In his farewell letter published in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser in Philadelphia on Monday, September 19th, 1796, President Washington asserted that although it's natural for people to be drawn to political parties in a republic, it's vital that such parties should not form along geographical or religious lines. It is also vital that political parties, relying on organization and favor, should be strictly controlled to minimize the jealousies and revenges endemic to a political command structure.
What Washington called the “political spirit" always serves to distract the public councils and weaken the public administration of established government. He noted that the political spirit inevitably agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms. The political spirit kindles animosities between one party against another which foments riot and insurrection or a revolt against the established government. (Note: These assertions are restated according to the author's understanding and interpretation of President Washington's farewell letter rather than being a direct quote from it.) However one interprets what occurred last January 6th, at the very least it was an intended riot against federal order and authority and was thus seditious.
In proclaiming the death of the GOP I mean no favor toward the Democratic Party! Like its GOP cousins, the Democratic Party is almost always subject to impending potentially fatal division. What saves it, despite its historic divisions, is that no element of the Democratic Party has been in a position to vanquish all other elements of the party. In addition, since Franklin Roosevelt, only John F Kennedy, its martyred president, has been sufficiently strong within the party to affect it's future course. However, even though Lyndon B. Johnson took temporary command to move the party beyond “Camelot” or “The New Frontier,” Vietnam abruptly ended Johnson’s influence over the party.
On the other hand, Republicans generally endorse their elected chief executive with a zeal that only Democratic president Franklin D. Roosevelt was to enjoy. Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and even the defeated George H. W. Bush retained the love and respect of their GOP constituency well after their public service was concluded even though Bush suffered considerable damage from the right at the convention that renominated him in 1992. Hence, it's not hard to understand why that party's most recent president, Donald Trump, retains such traditional GOP loyalty. What weakens the Republican Party's appeal is its lack of idealistic principles to which every conventional or moderate future leader might advocate.
When President Trump accepted renomination at the White House last August 27th (which marked former Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson's 112th birthday), the Trump campaign put forth no set of party principles in the form of a political platform. For many, that was all to the good, except that left the party open to the interpretation of being a party of a single man rather than a party of healthy consensus. Hence, with little to offer, Mr. Trump's party is clearly all about Donald John Trump and nothing else! Your financial status, your health, your struggle with a ravaging pandemic and climate change are not the government's business or concern.
Sadly, Mr. Lincoln's party of union, unity and reform has gone by the boards. We're no longer created equal as Mr. Lincoln once insisted. Divided, the new Trumpian party seeks to reign.
That sad reality isn't good for anyone, even the ambitious Democrats. All parties and all elements within parties need challenge and competition. Even more, mere opposition to "liberal Democrats" isn't enough! A newly constituted Republican Party must have answers to climate change, needed health care reforms, and other issues. At present, with perhaps the exception of the antichoice movement, there's nothing meaningful or even personal about what it offers.
Ah! This just occurred to me! In order to successfully challenge the Democrats, perhaps the former Republican Party should copy the example just announced by the City of Cleveland and the Cleveland Indians.
Why not call a new Republican Party “The Guardians”?! Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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