The official
origin of the Republican Party dates back to 1856 when about ten thousand
Americans joined forces to form a party dedicated to stopping the spread of and
tolerance for slavery in the United States.
One of its founders, Horace Greeley, described the movement as, “…those
who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and
promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery." The group named itself after Thomas
Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party and adopted a platform ostensibly dedicated
to restoring the principles embraced by George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson. You can read about the
history in more detail here:
Oh how I
envy the people who get to be part of the birth of a political party! That may be the one and only time that it actually stands for something. Fast forward 162 years later and it seems the
Party now stands for nothing.
“Republican” is what you are if you’re not a Democrat, and vice
versa. That’s about all. Listen closely to the incredibly revealing words
of presidential candidate John Kasich at a recent campaign event:
“The Republican party is my vehicle and not
my master,” said Kasich.
The Republican
Party is his “vehicle?” I take that to mean Kasich sees the Party as a
tool to be used to get HIM where HE wants to be – and nothing more. Maybe I’m naïve but isn’t it supposed to be
the other way around? Isn’t the
candidate supposed to be the vehicle that takes the Party where IT wants to
be? And Kasich’s not alone. It’s clear that Donald Trump sees the
Republican Party in exactly the same way.
For all his complaining he chose to run as a Republican rather than as an
Independent only because he wanted to
use what the Party has built – the name brand, the infrastructure, the donors
and the voter base – as his vehicle to the White House. And by allowing this the Republican Party has
taken another giant step towards the state of having no real mission. It’s just a vehicle to be used by anyone whether
they intend to uphold the Party platform or not.
And now we
have cries for “democracy” coming from none other than the indignant usurper,
Donald Trump, who doesn’t like that there is resistance to his commandeering of
the vehicle. I might sympathize with him
and his supporters if it weren’t for the simple fact that democracy isn’t necessarily
consistent with a Party that ostensibly has a purpose and a platform. The founders of the Republican Party in 1856
wouldn’t have stood for a pro-slavery candidate, or a candidate who proposed
“broadening the base” to include pro-slavery members, just for the sake of “democracy,” as that would have defeated the reason for
the Party to exist in the first place. There
is a time and place for democracy and within the GOP that time and place should
be after the candidates have committed
to upholding the platform, not before.
Celebrity
pundits, political bloggers and other Trump supporters are calling on
Republicans to get behind Trump for the sake of unity, but as a supporter of
the one conservative in this race I am offended by the type of unity they
apparently value. To such people I would
say this: You are asking us to unite
behind a man. We are asking you to unite
behind a set of principles.
~CW
Please visit
the blog site Pesky
Truth to see and discuss this post and others. Thanks!
~CW
