{"id":791,"date":"2021-08-02T12:03:52","date_gmt":"2021-08-02T16:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=791"},"modified":"2021-08-02T12:30:44","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T16:30:44","slug":"the-gops-passing-in-memoriam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=791","title":{"rendered":"The GOP’s Passing: In Memoriam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Republican Party has been around since its founding in 1854 in the little hamlet of Ripon, Wisconsin. It was cobbled together from disgruntled Democrats, the Free Soil Party, former Whigs and anti-slavery advocates in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act which permitted the expansion of slavery into the territories.<\/p>\n

After running John C. Fremont as its first presidential candidate in 1856, Republicans successfully elected Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and went on to become the second major party in American politics. In the beginning Republicans were classical liberals defending civil liberties and emphasizing economic freedom. Later, after 1912, the party began to shift ideologically to the right and after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 the Republican core base shifted to the South replacing the conservative Democrats. Since then it has increasingly become the party of social and fiscal conservatism.<\/p>\n

As the party of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, Republicans went on to elect notable senators such as Charles Sumner, Robert La Follette, William A. Taft, Sr. and Arthur Vandenberg. Most recently the party has failed to produce capable leaders and became the party of ambitious hustlers and mediocre politicians more interested in power and personal aggrandizement than government service. Long held principles such as respect for the rule of law, reverence for the Constitution, support for law and order, limited government and fiscal conservatism have been replaced by personal gain.<\/p>\n

The Republican Party has declined sharply since 2016 when it began to develop \u201cTrump fever\u201d and become a cult movement succumbing to fraudulent populism, corruption and alleged criminal behavior. Presently few prominent Republicans have the courage to speak out to stop the hemorrhaging. Senators Collins and Romney make feints toward doing so, but, so far, have not had the stomach to strongly rebel. Only Representatives Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) have stepped forward to say no more after the indefensible attack on the nation\u2019s Capitol of January 6.<\/p>\n

The party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt is no more. Republican leadership in Congress is no longer truly conservative, but corrupt. What would John McCain say?<\/p>\n

May the GOP RIP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Republican Party has been around since its founding in 1854 in the little hamlet of Ripon, Wisconsin. It was cobbled together from disgruntled Democrats, the Free Soil Party, former Whigs and anti-slavery advocates in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act which permitted the expansion of slavery into the territories. After running John C. Fremont as…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-robert-fischer"],"yoast_head":"\nThe GOP's Passing: In Memoriam - Potlatch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/potlatchga.com\/?p=791\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The GOP's Passing: In Memoriam - Potlatch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Republican Party has been around since its founding in 1854 in the little hamlet of Ripon, Wisconsin. 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