As the Republican Party Turns

 

Republicans have a unique opportunity if they are willing to take it. This is something which does not come around very often. As a matter of fact, this opportunity is so rare that most people live their entire lifetimes and never get such a present. The Republican Party itself was born out of just such a time as these. It was before the Civil War and the big issue of the day was slavery and whether it was an ethical practice or needed to be ended for humanitarian, social, ethical and moral reasons. The two parties were being torn apart by this very issue though they mostly stood on opposing sides. The complete history of the major parties of the United States throughout its history is chronicled at government and constitution.org and was used as reference for this article. The Democrat-Republican Party between 1825 through 1829 dropped the Republican title and became today’s Democrat Party. The National Republicans in 1832 became the Whig Party. It was not long before the Whig Party had some serious difficulties over the slavery issue and had major subgroups within split to become the Free Soil Party and this brought both parties to difficulty as neither had sufficient unity of followers to defeat the Democrats. In 1854, the remnants of the Whigs and the Free Soil Party rejoined becoming the National Union Party. The National Union Party won the Presidency in 1860 with Abraham Lincoln. Upon Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Jackson was sworn in as President and renamed the party the Republican Party and this was the actual birth of the Republican Party. With each change of name, the leadership of the parties had gone through changes and the citizens who joined had the ability to determine the basic ideology for the party going forward. The Republican Party was born on the slavery issue determined to end slavery while the Democrat Party tried to preserve slavery as the states in the south where the Democrat Party strength resided was dependent upon the slave labor to run their plantations, or at least the moneyed interest who ran the party supported slavery. So, on the initial slavery issue, the Democrats were supportive of the slave owners and the Republicans supported the freeing of the slaves and ending slavery in the United States.

 

Perhaps now we can jump forward a few years to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its passage in the Congress. Common knowledge which is portrayed by the mainstream media and in election material is that they passed on Democrat votes and the Republican Party was in opposition. That is not entirely true and in reality contains shreds of misinformation. So, allow us to portray the actual votes as recorded by Wikipedia. The original House version was passed by a vote of 290 in favor and 130 opposed which is a 69% in support and 31% opposed. There was a filibuster in the Senate requiring a cloture vote in the Senate which succeeded with 71 in favor and 29 opposed needing merely sixty votes to succeed. The Senate then voted on their version with an even more impressive 73 in favor and 27 opposed which was a 73% in favor and 27% opposed. The House then voted on the returned Senate version voting 289 in favor with 126 opposed which yields a 70% to 30% favorable vote. Now for a by party breakdown which is where it gets interesting. The original House version garnered a Democrat Party of 152 in favor with 96 opposed yielding a 61% to 39% favorable margin. The Republican Party also passed the act voting 138 in favor with 34 opposed yielding an 80% to 20% favorable margin. Cloture in the Senate had the Democrat Party vote of 44 in favor and 23 opposed yielding a 66% to 34% favorable vote and the Republican Party vote of 27 in favor and 6 opposed yielding a 82% to 18% favorable vote. The final vote in the Senate on their version was Democrat Party voting 46 in favor and 21 opposed yielding a 69% to 31% favorable vote with the Republican Party voting 27 in favor and 6 opposed yielding an 82% to 18% favorable vote. The House vote on the Senate version was Democrat Party voting 153 in favor to 91 opposed yielding a 63% to 37% favorable vote with the Republican Party voting 136 in favor to 35 opposed yielding 80% to 20% favorable vote. The reality of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 vote was that it was an overwhelming passage by both parties. Further investigation is another development. This reveals that the Democrat Party vote passing with respectively 61% and 63% House favorable votes and 66% and 69% Senate favorable votes with the Republican Party 80% and again 80% House favorable votes and 82% and again 82% Senate favorable votes. The reality is that the Republican Party had a higher favorable percentage in every vote compared to the Democrat Party which is slightly different than what is often portrayed. The next year voting on the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was as follows. The Senate vote went Democrat Party voted 47 in favor, 16 opposed and 4 did not vote yielding a 75% in favor while the Republican Party voted 30 in favor with 2 opposed yielding a 94% in favor. In the House of Representatives, the Democrat Party voted 221 in favor, 62 opposed and 10 not voting yielding 78% in favor and the Republican Party voted 112 in favor, 23 opposed and 5 not voting yielding 83% in favor. Once again, the bill passed with overwhelming support but once again the Republican Party voted 94% Senate favorable and 83% House favorable while the Democrat voted 75% favorable Senate and 78% House favorable making the Republicans once again voting in higher percentages than the Democrats, the opposite of what the media and common knowledge have evolved to.

 

Republicrats against Democans

 

Since the Civil War, the Democrats made quite a change and the Republicans remained on the side of equality. It does make one proud that both of the parties are supporting equality these days. Now to the opportunity the Republicans have and the Democrats really could use, the ability to alter the policies of their party remaking it more to their desires. The less fortunate Democrats appear stranded watching their part move leftward to the point of absurdity with a good number signing on to support Senator Sanders Medicare for All plans and desiring that a support abortion on demand as a litmus test for candidates to receive any central party funding. Meanwhile the Republican electorate is facing a wonderfully delicious selection between the Senator McCain branch and the Trump wild party or maybe the Mitt Romney wing as Mitt’s niece Ronna Romney McDaniel serves as the Chair of the Republican National Committee or there is the Bush dynasty who still has Jeb sitting in their bullpen. The thing is that the great choices will come fast as 2018 is approaching and with a number of the squishy left-leaning Republicans announcing their intentions to retire, there are some wide-open seats where fresh blood can be elected. Then there is the Steve Bannon wing of the party which is wide open to anyone who has never held political office and can prove their conservative credentials or at least promise to listen to Mr. Bannon when needing advice and on how to vote, though probably proving to be a true conservative and able to decide for yourself might be a wiser path. What would be a good start in the path to remaking the Republican Party might be to try something not done in a very long time, choose candidates who actually have never held office but make an impression and who the community know and who will stand up for the people and their interests and not the lobbyists or corporate interests. It might also be nice to elect people who will actually do as they campaigned and not talk the talk but find walking the walk just too difficult to actually bother to try. The fact that the Republican candidates campaigned for seven years on repealing Obamacare and voted near countless times to repeal Obamacare while President Obama was there to veto their bills thus protecting them from actually standing for something but apparently were not all that serious as they became incapable of doing it one last time once they had a President who was waiting to sign their repeal of Obamacare. Perhaps that might be their first task after the election and any who fail that test can be replaced in 2020 and then again in 2022 until the people have the Republican Party they desire, or should we say deserve. Some claim they have what they deserve now referring to President Trump, and those who agree that Trump is making an interesting President and actually standing for policies that are truly conservative. That would make a good start. But we will have to see what candidates present themselves in the primary elections. Perhaps some amateurs, real, normal people will step up and risk the trials and tribulations of running for public office and all the examinations, inquiries and other invasions it will take. Be advised that the task is monumental and it is of great assistance to have a reputation at your house of worship and perhaps some community service clubs and other reputable institutions in the community to assist with the efforts and provide a base from which to launch a campaign. Take that as words and suggestions from those of us who have been there.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

American Election Discontent Amplified

 

Only in America can there be two Super Tuesday Primary Election Days in under a one month span and only in America can one party elite grumble about the election leader while the other party be so evenly divided yet still have their party elite choosing the eventual candidate. The Republican elite are meeting in an effort to find some means of not only stopping the primary leader thus far but also the runner up as they prefer not to have either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz to be their candidate and their only seeming hope is for neither of these men to manage to achieve a first round win allowing for what is being salivated over, a contested convention where anybody can be shoved down the voters throats which often can result in a brokered candidate which could even see the return of Jeb Bush as the compromise best to lead the drive to the White House. On the Democrat side of the campaign there is a self-confessed and proudly stated socialist promising the stars and the moon with some magical formula catching up and threatening to unseat the chosen one, Hillary Clinton and could conceivably win if he breaks out ahead in such states as California and New York and some select other primaries and the Democrat may be feeling the Bern as in Bernie Sanders without more than at most a dozen of the super delegates. Whatever the combinations which make it to the election this November there will be those pushing that a third party candidate with potentially one or both party elites backing such a run as they find the candidate produced by the primaries completely untenable. Such a move or any use of political chicanery denying the obvious voter preference will result in the other party winning the White House almost by default.

 

The campaign has some ugly events which fault has been assigned dependent on the politics of the reporting news reporters. The reality is that these confrontations were pushed by people opposed to the candidate who was either appearing or had been scheduled but forced by threats or under advice from the schedulers who decided that such an appearance could only inflame things more. What is of interest is that there have been such disruptions at other candidate appearances but the news reports have concentrated on one candidate solely simply because the news elite from all sides also have an apparent displeasure with the particular candidate. The slants of the news and party elites are an ugliness which is quite uncomely and may only grow more dire and vicious. The rest of the campaigning and commentary leading to the conventions will continue to become heated to the point of boiling over until, or will it be if, a candidate secures the nomination through the primary process or by a combined primary delegates and super delegates. So, let’s actually look briefly at each party.

 

First we’ll cover the easier one, the Democrat primaries. Hillary Clinton has wrapped up the vast majority of the super delegates which equates to approximately one third of the required delegates to win the nomination. This gave her a commanding lead even before the first primary was held and a single vote had been cast. She has been winning but by ever narrowing margins with some of the largest states still ahead. Bernie “Feel the Bern” Sanders, if we remember back six months, entered into the race at three percent in polls. He has slowly gained ground and should his popularity gain the slimmest margin and Hillary could watch the nomination slip away from her once again. Such a devastating loss would be the end of Hillary Clinton’s political ambitions. It might also make the investigations into her possible wrongdoing while Secretary of State with her mail server and other questionable favor dealing for contributions to the Clinton Foundation. Obviously it would be more embarrassing and potentially more difficult to indict for any of her actions while she was also the Democrat candidate for the Presidency and even more difficult if she wins the White House. It would be strange for her to pardon herself from any wrongdoing as President while it is still possible that President Obama could pardon or otherwise immunize Hillary Clinton freeing her from all charges clearing her from any responsibility. Still, Hillary Clinton most likely will emerge as the Democrat candidate and it remains to see whether she will find an easy path to the White House or a real challenge from a Republican candidate.

 

The Republican nomination is going to be potentially very ugly and that is without any acrimony from their ongoing contests. The media and many of the elite political commentators are running a steady stream of trumped up controversy which is actually quite appropriate as the candidate all the trumped controversy is centered on is in Donald Trump. When they are not trumping Trump they are hoping the party does not find itself running on Cruz control. Sorry, I am not quite capable of doing anything cutesy with John Kasich. The dissatisfaction with politics as usual is apparent in copious amounts on both sides of the populace but has really found a home on the Republican side of the fence. The oddity is that there are two candidates on the Republican side who are anti-establishment and they are the two contesting for the nomination. They could make a deal and keep it private, like that is possible in politics these days, promising to assign their delegates to the other whichever one has the lesser amount in exchange for being either in a choice cabinet spot or better be the running mate on the ticket which would place them in a promising position to be the next candidate after eight years whether the President won reelection of not. This is going to continue to grow more and more acrimonious leading to a great relief once the nomination is secured, assuming it would be secured before the convention. Should the nominating process in Cleveland at the Republican Convention go past the second or third round there will be a greater and greater potential for some chicanery pulled to short-shrift the expression of the voters in the primary voting.

 

 

First Republican President After Split
From Whig Party was Abraham Lincoln

 

There will be near constant critiques and outlandish claims of the elites of either party should their preferred candidate not be proceeding to the nomination resorting to backing a third party or independent candidate which they would use their connections and arrange to place such onto every state ballot is nothing other than making controversy and out of the box and bordering preposterous scenarios simply to press ratings. Both parties will acquiesce to any winner as attempting to defeat their own party’s nominee would be political suicide and a step towards the dissolution of the party and the formation of a new party similar as when the Whig Party refused to side against slavery thus forcing a splinter group to break and form their own party. That party made a theretofore unheard of accomplishment, namely getting their Presidential candidate elected and thus the Whig Party died and the Republican Party gained respectability and has held together through serious challenges before and will likely survive the Trump trumping the party elitists. The elites can disagree with the will of the voters until it is made obvious that taking any other path other than backing the populist candidate and unify in order to reach the real goal that party desires, their man in the White House and not the other party’s candidate. So, enjoy the fireworks for as long as they last and then be amazed as the entirety of each party suddenly become unified and supportive, silent at worst, as the White House and the powers which go with having a friendly rather than adversarial President to work with your people in the congress and the governors and others of the party. Both parties desire the gold ring and will do whatever it takes to grab that ring and the path is going with the people, with the electorate and there is no other path as that is the method in a democratic republic form of governance. Let the games continue.

 

Beyond the Cusp