It's My Party, And I'll Cry If I Want To

Recently my good friend and fellow Republican, John Ey, sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal titled, “Let’s Elect Hillary Now”.  Basically, the article distills down the premise that many in the Republican Party really don’t want to win, they want to stand by their deep-rooted ultra-conservative convictions, and complain for the next four to eight years about how awful the Democratic President is.  It further states that continuing to alienate the huge number of Hispanics and African Americans , and now Muslims, in the United States essentially guarantees losing the election.  As Republicans, we want to create a gated community and keep everyone out that doesn’t hold to our beliefs.  We would rather be right and lose than ever compromise or moderate to attract those potential voters that aren’t quite as far right as we are.

Let’s take a short walk back through history, and take a look at the Presidents we’ve had over the last few decades.  One of the discussions I like to have is “who would you say has been a great President in your lifetime?”  Since I was born in 1960, I start with John F. Kennedy and work my way through Barack Obama.  What’s great about this type of discussion is that it’s purely opinion, and as many say, opinion is the lowest form of thought, you really don’t have to put much into it, because, it is simply your opinion.  When I do this exercise, I come up with two Presidents I would say qualify as great Presidents.  Think about that, two Presidents?  In 55 years, in the greatest nation in the world, two great Presidents.  To me, that is incredibly sad.  Let’s take a brief look at my opinion and briefly why I hold those opinions:

·     John F. Kennedy – He may have become a great President, but he only served in office until he was tragically assassinated. I don’t believe a 2 ½ year body of work is enough to determine if he would have been great or not, he was a mixed review at that point.
·         Lyndon Johnson – Vietnam War and the handling of it were his downfall.
·         Richard Nixon – I really believe he was great at foreign affairs, but that Watergate thing is just a little too much.  You can’t commit a crime in office and be considered a great President.
·         Gerald Ford – The economy killed him and the handling of the Nixon pardon didn’t set well with many.
·         Jimmy Carter – Probably the greatest former President, but probably one of the worst Presidents.  Economy killed him, this was a dismal four years.
·         Ronald Reagan – This was my first vote, and it was a special moment for me.  I was so excited to vote for the first time, and I was happy to help vote Jimmy Carter out of office.  I believe Ronald Reagan was a great President, he did an outstanding job in his eight years.  These were some of the best days in US history, at least in my US history.
·         George Bush – I loved George Bush, but I really don’t believe he was a great President.  Again, the economy was his downfall.
·         Bill Clinton – When he was in office, I despised the man.  I thought he was evil, I thought he was a liar, I thought he played the American public.  But, I would have to say, he was a great President.  So painful to say it, but he did a great job in his eight years in office.  While some would say Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky should disqualify him, I still have to say he was a great President.
·         George W. Bush – I voted for him both times, but I think he ranks up there with Jimmy Carter as one of our worst Presidents ever.  To be honest, if the Democrats would have run anyone reasonably qualified, I may have considered voting for them.  I really don’t believe he was that astute, and I believe he mishandled a great deal of our foreign affairs issues.
·         Barack Obama – Unlike many of my Republican colleagues, I don’t believe he has done that badly as President.  My biggest issue with him is that he has not tried to work with his Republican colleagues to improve our country, but I could say the same about them.  While many view the Affordable Care Act as a bad thing, I really don’t believe he had much choice, the insurance industry and drug companies have been screwing us for years, and something had to be done.  This may not have been the answer, but it’s better than what we’ve faced over the 20 years or so before that.

Again, all opinion, I’m sure many would disagree with my assessment, and that’s OK.  I’m not the most politically astute person, and again, it’s just my opinion.  Let me ask you though, and now I’m talking to my fellow Republicans.  When was the last time you were excited to go into the voting booth and vote for a Republican candidate?  Were you excited to vote for John McCain?  Mitt Romney?  Bob Dole?  George W. Bush?  I was excited to vote for George Bush, but it was probably more because I liked him rather than he was a good candidate.  The last good candidate I voted for, and really got excited to vote for, was Ronald Reagan.  Think about that.  That was in 1984, over 30 years ago.  I’ve voted straight Republican since I could vote in 1980, but it’s been over 30 years since I’ve really enjoyed voting for a Republican candidate.

So let me ask you, are you excited by any of the candidates we have in front of us now?  Who would you feel really good about voting for, and more importantly, who do you really believe could beat Hillary Clinton?  To be honest, I’m not sure any of them can possibly beat Hillary Clinton.  In the article I cited above, they noted that the Republican party has hit a low similar to the low the Democratic party hit in 1972 when they ran George McGovern for President (unfortunately I’m old enough to remember how badly that went for them).  The sad part is that at this point, there is no turning back, it has to be one of the collection of clowns that are left.  Whether you really like or believe in any of these candidates, do you really believe they can win?  Because unless you are one of those happy to sit on the sidelines and just complain, winning is the most important thing.

Many of them can be thrown out easily, they have no chance of getting the nomination, and they have no chance of winning.  I’m going to make an assumption, the only ones who have any chance are Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.  Let’s take them one by one, starting with the least likely:

·         Jeb Bush – Very likely, he wouldn’t get the nomination, can’t see any way he could possibly win, for many reasons, even for name alone.  The Bush name, largely due to George W. is very negative, and he’d have no chance of winning a general election.

·         Marco Rubio – At this point, the candidate I would run, because I think he would have the best chance of beating Hillary Clinton. I also like him better than most of the candidates.
·         Ted Cruz – To me, he is much too far right wing, conservative and spouts too much conservative Christian rhetoric to win the general election.  Still he would probably be my second choice because I believe he has the best chance, along with Marco Rubio, of potentially beating Hillary Clinton.
·         Donald Trump – I believe, and I would also hope, he would have zero chance of winning the nomination or general election.  While he may have some business intelligence, I really don’t believe he has much political intelligence.  I also believe he is incredibly evil, and does not deserve to serve as the leader of one of the greatest nations in the world.  He has insulted women, Muslims, African Americans, Hispanics, disabled people, overweight people, the only people that seemed to have been saved from his wrath are fit, white, Christian males.  I think his ranking in the Republican polls shows how far the Republican party has fallen.  While I would still vote Republican for probably any other viable candidate, I would not only vote for Hillary Clinton over him, I would actively campaign for her (I can’t believe I’m saying this, as much as I despised Bill, I despise Hillary even more).   I have that low of an opinion of Donald Trump, he is an incredibly bad joke as a candidate for President. 

A few years ago, I wrote letters to the Republican National Committee and to my local Congressman to express my displeasure at how the Republican Party had allowed the Tea Party and other ultra-conservative right wing groups to take over the party and lead us down the road we are on.  While we can feel good about our beliefs and the fact we are right, it does absolutely no good if you can’t win an election.  It all comes down to numbers.  If you alienate Hispanics, African Americans, Muslims and even moderate Republicans like me, how can you possibly win a general election?  The math just doesn’t work.  Sadly for me, the RNC and my Congressman never responded to me.  It really didn’t surprise me, even though I’m a lifelong Republican, my voice really doesn’t matter or really isn’t heard.

That’s where the article “Let’s Elect Hillary Now” really hit me.  I’m tired of being the silent side of the Republican Party who lets the ultra-conservatives take over the party and get their way.  I really believe that so many of them just want something to bitch about, they want to feel good about being right while the Democrats get four or eight more years in office.  We need to run someone who has a legitimate chance of winning the election.  I really believe that none of the collection of boobs that are out there has a chance, absent Marco Rubio, and maybe Ted Cruz, but I still have little hope that any of them can beat Hillary Clinton.  We have become too set in our ways, too obstinate, too unwilling to compromise.  We will have to be happy sitting on the sidelines, criticizing the new regime, smug in our knowledge of how to properly run the country. 

Last point and then I’m done.  I remember the glory days, when we could laugh at the crazy people in the Democratic Party and the stupid things they would say.  Now, we have as many crazy people making similar stupid comments, and in many cases, more of them.  We are like the Democratic Party of 1972, we have fallen so far, and I’m not sure how we recover.  We have become a joke, a very bad joke, and we have a collection of clowns, led by the king of clowns, Donald Trump, to lead us.