Trump betrays traditional Republican, American values
Editor:
President Carter used to quote his teacher, Ms. Julia, who said, “We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.”
Gov. Bush said just a few years ago that the Republican Party which elected his brother was gone.
In the old days, Republicans emphasized support for A) paying our bills, B) holding down national debt, C) resisting Russian expansion, D) farmers and their sales overseas, E) courting black voters, F) supporting immigration,
G) trade, F) low-cost public college, G) initiating most major environmental initiatives including the EPA and OSHA, H) starting and expanding our national park system, I) until 1986 using tax credits (not cuts) to boost investment and jobs, J) expansion of mail-in voting, K) following our laws to the letter, L) honoring and supporting our Vietnam veterans and veterans generally, M) resisting, until 1915, the erection of Confederate statues, N) support for NATO and our alliances,
O) originating progressive taxation on the wealthy (1862 and again in 1892 and in 1911), P) huge support for Rep. Sen. Chafee’s “Health Equity and Access Improvement Act of 1991” (a/k/a Obama Care), Q) appointing traditional judges who considered the Declaration of Independence when deciding cases, R) massive opposition to politicians suspected of receiving foreign support and politicking involving calls from and guests to the White House, and finally,
S) the party aggressively excluded “John Birchers” (a fringe group in favor of 1. unfunded tax cuts, 2. keeping the rich rich, 3. Anti-immigration, conspiracy theories that all change is communist or socialist in origin…) and George Wallace’s “American Democratic Party” and Strom Thurmond’s “Dixiecrats” (populists in favor of 1. white supremacy, 2. unfunded spending).
The parties started flipping principles when Republican doors were finally opened wide to Bircher and Wallace supporters and their ideas in 1982 and 1968, respectively.
I knew the Presidential debate on Tuesday would include a lot of overdone, even false, claims. I would hear Bircher and Wallace dog whistles. I fact check virtually everything so none of that threw me – that former RNC Chief Counsel Attorney Ben Ginsberg emphatically says the vote by mail harangue is vicious nonsense, that Republican cities have suffered demonstrations and “organized” white supremacist violence, and that the national production act was used extensively for Ebola and swine flu pandemic before matters got out of hand – unlike Covid, and that our economy had slowed under him.
The straw (nee club) in the debate came when President Trump asked that “his supporters” –not official party poll watches – go to the polls to ensure his victory.
And he refused to denounce “white supremacy” including specifically the machine gun armed “Proud Boys” (who are officially listed as a neo fascist group) who he told to “stand back and stand by”!
Peaceful transitions of freely elected government is the Article of Faith that binds us no matter how much we disagree! President Trump just up and threw it out. Love of God, family, this country, freedom, the right to vote, and peaceful transition of administrations – everything we fought for in our Civil War and two World Wars – he put at physical risk!
No matter what else you may think, he made clear who to vote against: Trump and any politician who does not renounce him.
Conrad F. Cropsey
Albion
