It is obvious that the Republican Party is about as far from its claimed roots as it can possibly get. I'm not talking about the abolition of slavery as a root, that was more of an off-shoot. I'm talking about the concept of support for the Constitution of the United States, and the debate necessary for the mainenance of the Republic. The Republican Party wouldn't exist today if it weren't for the Lincoln-Douglass debates and those that came, but for some reason the modern Perpublican Party has forgotten that past.
Today the are all about stifling the debate on any issue they hold dear. It's a radical change.
The most recent attempt at stifling comes from House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, who has been criticizing Howard Dean's opposition to the coming war against Iraq, comparing Dean to Nevill Chamberlain and Saddam Hussein to Hitler. Both comparisons are a stretch.
In a society where the politicial leaders are supposedly chosen in free and open elections, the only way the electorate can choose candidates is to listen to the debate on the issues that face them. That includes war, peace, trade, education, the environment, and security issues. They affect us all, and we select leaders based on their public stances on these issues. That makes questioning policy a patriotic duty rather than subersive, and it is our birthright as Americans. Candidates like Mr. Dean are just what we need to remind us of that.
Posted by Chris at March 4, 2003 08:57 AM