Health care, RINO's and rhinos

I posted the following to the New York Times article "Yes, Senator, You Wouldn't Want to Lose Your Mammograms – or Women Voters".  See http://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/23/opinion/yes-senator-you-wouldnt-want-to-lose-your-mammograms-or-women-voters.html?comments#permid=21906167

I think we should stop calling "Republicans" Republicans.  They definitely are not the party of Res Publica (public things).  They either are corporatists or stone throwing sinners.

I always wonder where the party I once was a precinct officer of would have become if John Anderson had won the nomination in 1980.

- End of NYT submission

Around the time Ronald Reagan became President the term RINO started being used heavily: Republican in Name Only.  It was used to cast out those who believed in the "big tent" that both parties claimed to be.

But I often wonder if the term shouldn't be "RHINO", a big, lumbering mammal with poor eyesight and a willingness to attack anything it sees as a threat.  Which is just about anything that moves.

Whatever happened to real Republicans?

Once upon a time we were active Republican Party members at the precinct level. Then Reagan won the nomination instead of John Anderson, and Republicans became more rigid in their beliefs. It was about this time that the term RINO was coined: Republican In Name Only. And the Republicans stopped being a big tent party. This rigidity should not be mistaken for conservatism, a thoughtful consideration of change.

There have been a few bright spots like Bill Frenzel, Representative of 3rd Minnesota district, and Arne Carlson, Gov. of Minnesota after the Republican candidate imploded because of inappropriate behavior with teen-age girls. So much for the "moral" party. BTW Carlson still writes a blog: http://govarnecarlson.blogspot.com/

Since then, there have been more and more rigid stances, including eight years of obstruction of a Democratic President. Bi-partisan legislation happens too infrequently.

I would say the only thing "conservative" is to "conserve our world view" despite plentiful evidence to the contrary.

Comment to New York Times article "On Where the Republican Party Went Wrong", Charlie Sykes, 2016-12-15

I am a Democratic Party leader?

Way back in 2008 I donated ten or twenty bucks to the Obama campaign.  Ever since then I receive pleas for money and for filling out a “survey” from the Democratic National Party.

“OFFICIAL PARTY BUSINESS - OPEN IMMEDIATELY”

The letter, this time “from” Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, includes:

Melvyn, you are one of a select group of party leaders…

I am a Democratic Party leader?  The last time I was an official party leader was in the 70s when I was a Republican precinct financial chair.  Then came Reagan.  I’ve been wandering in the political desert ever since with a couple of forays to support one or another independent candidate.

Now Reagan looks like a liberal and my only choice is pretty much to vote Democratic.  The Democrats are several steps closer to reality and practical governance than the Republicans.  Where are the likes of John Anderson, Arne Carlson, and Bill Frenzel?

I scribbled on a plea for the 2012 Presidential campaign that Obama should depend on his big donors rather than small donors he courted so well in 2008.  I haven’t sent any money since.

Still the pleas come.

The return envelope is labeled:

SURVEY RESPONSE ENCLOSED – PLEASE RUSH

As with all political surveys, the questions and answer selections are biased toward the bias of the party printing the survey.  They are meant to affirm the party’s beliefs rather than shape them.

Well, I will vote in November.  That is a lot more than I can say about many who call themselves Democrats.

Have Republican defections gotten a big boost?

Former Florida Republican Governor Charlie Christ has come out in support of Barack Obama.  See
"Here's why I'm backing Obama", Tampa Bay Times, 2012-08-26.

Once upon a time I was active in the Republican Party, and then it nominated Ronald Reagan over John Anderson.  I did keep voting for Bill Frenzel, Rep., 3rd District, MN, until he retired.  And I voted for Arne Carlson for governor when he replaced the Republican candidate who behaved inappropriately in a swimming pool with teen-age girls.

And the Republicans have gotten even worse.  If they really looked at Ronald Reagan's ability to compromise, they would consider him a "Marxist".

I keep hoping the current Republicans will self-destruct and be replaced by a common-sense party based on facts rather than ideology.  Meanwhile, I feel compelled to vote for Democrats even though they try to cater to too many narrow interests.

Is the Republican Party following its predecessor?

In 1852-1856, the Whig Party began disintegrating because of various factions within it.  Some went with the new Republican Party, some went with the Democrats, and some formed various new parties.  See Wikipedia's article on the Whig Party (United States).

Now the Republican Party has morphed from a party of general principals to a party of rigid orthodoxy.  If you are for issues A and B but not C, you are considered a RINO (Republican in name only).  Some like Olympia Snowe resisted but have given up seeking office any longer.  Some like John Posner, a federal appellate judge have spoken out strongly – "Top Reagan-Appointed Judge Slams 'Goofy' Republican Party", Ian Miller, Think Progress, 2012-07-06.  Some like former Utah governor and Presidential primary candidate Jon Huntsman have withdrawn from party activities – "Huntsman scolds GOP for losing focus, will skip convention", Thomas Burr, Salt Lake Tribune, 2012-07-06.

I'm seeing more and more people write that they were once Republican but have dropped out or even become Democrats.  We saw the future when Ronald Reagan was nominated over John Anderson.  Now even Ronald Reagan is to "the left" of many Republicans.

Will many of these dissatisfied Republican politicians work to form a "deliberative" party that looks for long-range solutions?  It could happen, especially if a few well-known journalists start promoting the idea.  There might not have been a Republican Party without Horace Greeley and his New York Tribune.

"[W]e think some simple name like 'Republican' would more fitly designate those who had united to restore the Union to its true mission of champion and promulgator of Liberty rather than propagandist of slavery." - Horace Greeley, New York Tribune, June 1854.  Change "propagandist of slavery" to "propagandist of large corporations and rigid dogma" and we have the makings of a new party.  See "The Origins of the Republican Party".

Maybe a new party could adopt the 1856 Republican Party platform with suitable contemporary modifications

Government of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich

If you still have any belief that our politicians are for the people rather than certain special interests, here's a couple of dream busters for you.

"Charles and David Koch of Koch Industries, Conservative Political Donors, Hold Semi-Annual GOP Business Retreat In Vail, Colo." The reputed purpose is "is to develop support for the kind of free-market policies and initiatives that can get our country back on the path to economic prosperity and sustained job creation." Yeah, free market as in free to do what they damn well please.

Meanwhile, in New York, President Barack Obama, supposedly a liberal politician, had a $35,000/plate dinner. He also had several similar dinners earlier. Just do a search on "obama 35000 dinner".

What we have are the plutocratic party and the ultra-plutocratic party.

In the past, I've voted for "third party" candidates who I thought made some sense, the best being John Anderson in 1980. However, I'm leaning to the notion that the Republican Party should get a resounding defeat and then maybe the Republicans who were in the New England, pre-Reagan camp could re-emerge. Then we can give a resounding defeat to the current Democratic Party and maybe a more truly populist party would emerge. Ouch! I crossed my fingers too tightly!

I guess all I can say if you don't vote in November 2012, don't blame me for the results.

How Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality

The Coffee Party put a link on Facebook to "How Conservatism Lost Touch with Reality", Fareed Zacharia, Time, 2011-06-16.  When Zacharia was a student, he interviewed George Will, who told him that "Conservativism is true."  Although Zacharia thought the statement a bit arrogant, he wrote that down through the ages conservative thought has been based on how the world was, not on some abstract principles.  Current American "conservatives" have gone from the pre-Reagan realism to a laundry list of abstract principles.

I knew the Republican Party was in trouble when it nominated Ronald Reagan, an abstractionist, over John Anderson, a pragmatist.  I knew it was in even further trouble when it described those Republicans who didn't fully subscribe to a laundry list of abstract principles as RINOs - Republicans in name only.  Actually RINOs are realists insist no orthodoxy.

Am I important or is a third party working harder?

I just had a personal call, not a robo-call, from Dean Barkley, the 2008 Minnesota Independence Party candidate for the U.S. Senate. He was asking for donations to the party.

I told him that I had been thinking about sending email to the party about having gimmicks in its party platform, namely instant run-off voting and unicameral legislature. He said he would pass my thoughts on.

I suggested that a key word to use was "appropriateness"; for example, the question is not that taxes are too high or too low, but are they appropriate for what we as a society need done. He said that he was a believer in infrastructure and that he thinks a bit before driving across a bridge.

What I didn't tell him that I had been the "Party of One" columnist for the Weekly Reader. For years I have sometimes donated to candidates I particularly liked, but I can't remember when I last contributed to a party. Maybe it was 1981 when my term ended as a precinct finance chair for the Republican Party in Plymouth MN. I had wanted John Anderson as the Republican candidate in 1980 and did contribute to his independent campaign. Too bad people threw their votes away voting for the "major" party candidates:)