From Barry Goldwater And Hugh Scott To Mitt Romney And Mitch McConnell: The Loss of Republican Principle

Forty five years ago, there were distinguished Republican Senators who stood up for principle, and pressured President Richard Nixon to resign for his abuse of power in the Watergate Scandal.

These included 1964 Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater of Arizona, and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, who went to the White House with others to inform him that the vast majority of Republicans were not with the President, and would vote to remove him in an upcoming impeachment trial.

Like any Senator, they wished to promote the advancement of their party and its goals, but also believed in the rule of law.

So they stand out as profiles in courage for their public actions and statements, which did the Republican Party proud.

Now, 45 years later, we have Republican Senators, who on the surface are principled and unhappy about the abuse of power of President Donald Trump, but beyond words, will not take action to inform Donald Trump that his time is up.

So we have Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee; and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Romney has condemned the actions and behavior of President Donald Trump, but it is just words, as Romney has refused to take leadership to promote the impeachment or resignation of the 45th President.

Meanwhile, McConnell, who worked to deny Barack Obama a second term in the Presidency, and to prevent Merrick Garland from being considered for a Supreme Court vacancy in 2016, has led the charge to cooperate with Trump, as the only purposes McConnell cares about are more massive tax cuts for the wealthy one percent, and the promotion of extremist right wing judges and justices, which will distort constitutional law for the next two generations.

2 comments on “From Barry Goldwater And Hugh Scott To Mitt Romney And Mitch McConnell: The Loss of Republican Principle

  1. D April 22, 2019 3:07 pm

    From Wikipedia.org: “The [1896 William] McKinley campaign invented a new form of campaign financing that has dominated American politics ever since. Instead of asking office holders to return a cut of their pay, [Mark] Hanna went to financiers and industrialists and made a business proposition. He explained that [William Jennings] Bryan would win if nothing happened, and that the McKinley team had a winning counterattack that would be very expensive. He then would ask them how much it was worth to the business not to have Bryan as president. He suggested an amount and was happy to take a check. Hanna had moved beyond partisanship and campaign rhetoric to a businessman’s thinking about how to achieve a desired result. He raised $3.5 million. Hanna brought in banker Charles G. Dawes to run his Chicago office and spend about $2 million in the critical region.”

    The 1896 United States presidential election, a Republican pickup year for William McKinley, was a realigning election not just because that party won seven of nine elections from 1896 to 1928 but they also transformed their party into one for big business.

    I think there is too much by Democrats about principled Republicans as if they want and/or need to bow to them. I get the impression that Democrats, who turned their party into one for Wall Street and corrupted it by taking money from corporations (tail end of the 1970s/early 1980s), and then voting for right-wing policies, and then pretending that that money does not affect how they operate, have been wanting to become Republicans. Consider Barack Obama, one month after he was re-elected the 44th U.S. president, in 2012: “The truth of the matter is that my policies are so mainstream that if I had set the same policies that I had back in the 1980s, I would be considered a moderate Republican.”

    I think it is time to stop talking about the Republicans and principles. Doing that is like expressing some romantic feeling. That is not real and, ultimately, it is a waste. It’s time to ask whether the Democrats—this current party establishment—has any principles. Especially after the rigging of the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries. With Steny Hoyer recorded for the party insiders telling Levi Tillman the establishment already selected Jason Crow to be the 2018 nominee for U.S. House in Colorado #06. That Nancy Pelosi, expressing that Donald Trump is dangerous, then says he is not worth the trouble of impeachment. The DCCC chairwoman Cheri Bustos, of Illinois #17, doing her best to block actual progressives from challenging Democratic incumbents for U.S. House primaries by threatening business with consultants. And that comment by Obama, of which I did not know for a few years, is disgusting. That should be upsetting to every person who calls himself a “progressive.”

    I have no delusions about principled Republicans. Mitch McConnell, as majority leader of the U.S. Senate, is in his position because he plays the game of the oligarchs’—and he plays it very well—as he further enriches the extremely rich. He delivers for them.

  2. Former Republican April 22, 2019 4:17 pm

    Quite right, Professor. ReThuglicans are putting party over country.

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