THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE
The name Republican was suggested by newspaper editor Horace Greeley who wrote...
The Grand Old Party's strongest supporters were located in New England, upper New York and the upper midwest. The first resolution drafted in the 1856 Republican Platform stated...
"Resolved...That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution are essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the union of the States must and shall be preserved."
Birthplace of the Republican Party
Ripon, Wisconsin (JFK+50) On March 20, 1854, the Republican Party was founded in a schoolhouse here in Ripon. The leaders of this new political party, a coalition of anti-slavery Whigs and Free Soil Democrats, met in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act which nullified the Missouri Compromise by making slavery legal north of the compromise line by popular vote.
The name Republican was suggested by newspaper editor Horace Greeley who wrote...
"We think some simple name like 'Republican' would more fitly designate those who...united restored the Union to its true mission of champion...of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery."
The Grand Old Party's strongest supporters were located in New England, upper New York and the upper midwest. The first resolution drafted in the 1856 Republican Platform stated...
"Resolved...That the maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution are essential to the preservation of our Republican institutions, and that the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States, and the union of the States must and shall be preserved."
Fast forward to modern day politics, George Packer describes today's Republican Party as "thoroughly corrupt." He writes that the reason is both historical as well as philosophical. According to his December 2018 article in The Atlantic, "In 1973, the Republican party...was still a normal organization" which played by the rules. He continues...
"The corruption (today is) a consistent repudiation of norms...(the) pursuit and abuse of power....justifying almost any means. Today's Republican party is older, whiter, more male, more rural and more conservative."
While a number of American voters would find Packer's views objectionable, many, if not most, would have to agree with the last sentence.
SOURCE
"The corruption of the Republican Party," by George Packer, December 14, 2018, The Atlantic, www.theatlantic.com/
Birthplace of the Republican Party
Ripon, Wisconsin
Photo by Royalbroil (2012)
