In the old days...(I know, I know, bear with me) there were some decent Republicans

[Raven]

My father was one. He was JFK's personal lawyer and friend and I suspect JFK was the only Democrat he ever voted for. In Massachusetts we had Ed Brooke, Leverett Saltonstall, Henry Cabot Lodge, Eliot Richardson. These men were gentlemen. They were honest. Their political views may not have been mine but they were not venal. They viewed public service as an honor and an obligation. They treated everybody with respect. They worried about how people lived and they wanted people to thrive. They must be turning in their graves today. We need a decent second party to make Democracy work and we don't have one. Somewhere out there there are people with character and decency who need to step up and do what is right for this country. I know they are out there and I, for one would welcome them.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Jacob Javits always comes to mind.

He was like the Bernie Sanders of his day.

[markpkessinger]

16. Jacob Javits indeed . . .

. . . another one would be Bill Scranton, governor of PA from '63 to '67 (not to be confused with former Lt. Gov. Bill Scranton III). Governor Scranton passed away in July of this year, at age 96.

[duffyduff]

2. There were many, many great ones.

When the Birchers took over the GOP after 1976, the party was ruined.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. I'd say it started earlier

after passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, when 'Dixiecrats' switched parties and made Nixon's 'southern strategy' possible.

[duffyduff]

21. They started then, but the takeover wasn't complete until 1980.

1976 was important because it really was the "last hurrah" for the moderates and liberals in the GOP against the wingnuts who supported Reagan's failed bid for the GOP nomination.

[Scootaloo]

3. Yes, before the Goldwater Heist of the party

I think there might be a few stragglers left, but I imagine they're probably living in hermitages, or dwelling in the north woods wrestling moose for food or are otherwise inaccessible to modern life.

Much as with the fact that Lincoln was a Republican, these things are simply irrelevant to the modern day. There are probably nice Republicans... but they're bound to also be painfully confused republicans.

[Warpy]

5. Yes, and I've voted for one of them

because the Democrats had dragged up an antichoice stiff that year. I voted for Ed Brooke and was glad to do so.

Unfortunately, once Reagan got in and handed the party to the religious nuts, it was no longer possible to vote for sane Republicans, they'd just get bullied by the insane ones once in office.

If the Democrats ever presented an antichoice idiot, I'd vote Socialist Workers Party in Boston and Green in NM.

[Uncle Joe]

6. It began with Barry Goldwater's speech.

Other than praising extremism and demonizing moderation, the subjects of "freedom" and "justice" can be highly subjective.

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.

John W. Gardner


Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/johnwgard134412.html#S7J4wczCsc01SS6T.99

The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom.

Aristotle


Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/aristotle148491.html#QyJSwAG4M7xUHO5g.99

Goldwater and successive Republicans inspired by his speech took wisdom out of the equation.

Thanks for the thread, Raven.

[WilliamPitt]

14. Even Goldwater figured it out before the end.

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the (Republican) party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

.....

The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom.... I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C,' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are?... I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of "conservatism."

- Barry Goldwater

[Uncle Joe]

19. That's correct, in the same manner that Pandora

figured out that opening the jar wasn't such a good idea after all.

Perhaps Goldwater didn't see the consequences of such a strident, thoughtless speech at the time but in the long run, his epiphany made little or no difference.

[Egnever]

64. Good lord that quote is awesome!

Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that there are identifiable villains back of it all.

John W. Gardner


Thank you for posting that!

[Uncle Joe]

65. Gardner sums it up pretty well in a nut shell doesn't he?

Thanks for the thanks, Egnever.

[Egnever]

66. Absolutely!

Straight to my sig line it went, as you can see.

It's a keeper!

[Uncle Joe]

67. That's one of the things I love about the Internet, giving us the ability in some small but rippling

measure to change the world.

Peace to you, Egnever.

[greenman3610]

7. my Dad was chairman of the local county republicans

they believed in community, progress, science, dialogue, justice, they were coming around on civil rights, but Nixon soured my Dad on the whole party, and he voted for McGovern in 72 and never went back

[Douglas Carpenter]

8. I remember rantin for Scranton in 64 - would you believe he only died a few months ago?

He just died on July 28, 2013 - Yet for a very brief moment in history he was the leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party and a serious contender for the Republican nomination for President of the United States


People forget that Henry Wallace and Robert M. La Follette rose to national prominence as Republican Party politicians.

[markpkessinger]

17. I just mentioned Scranton upthread . . .

. . .before I saw your post!

[MoonRiver]

9. Eisenhower warned the country to beware the military-industrial complex.

In his own way he was a good man with the best interests of the country his first priority.

[RebelOne]

22. I was a teenager when Eisenhower was president.

I didn't know too much about politics or parties at that time, but I did like him.

[MoonRiver]

23. Yeah, I don't really remember him.

My dad always said Ike was a great president because he didn't do anything!

[RC]

42. Ike was responsible for our Interstate highway system.

That's something.

[MoonRiver]

70. For sure!

He also enforced school integration.

[Blanks]

10. Even of you're not talking about 'decent' republicans...

The modern day tea-party opposes even republican values.

Teddy Roosevelt gave us national parks. Eisenhower gave us the interstate highway system, Nixon gave us the EPA and OSHA.

They were even disrespectful to Bob Dole - even though I never liked Dole's politics - he was disabled in the war and had a kick ass sense of humor (as long as he wasn't running against Clinton).

No, these people are ignorant of the contributions that republicans have made.

Somehow they've been hypnotized into believing that all government is bad.

[WilliamPitt]

11. Your father

was the best man I've ever known.

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. Young Republicans were not always what they are today

[Roland99]

18. My how times have changed.

[redwitch]

28. How do I capture this to share?

It is amazing.

[redwitch]

37. Never mind, hubby helped me put this on fb.

[Rozlee]

49. I remember the College Republicans I went to UTSA with in the 1980s.

I was with the College Democrats and we'd have debates and liberal and conservative featured speakers would be invited. Often, we'd all head out after the debates and speaking engagements to rehash everything some more at nearby pizzarias and bars. We may have been on opposing sides, but we still communicated with each other. The topics of discussion tended to be foreign policy and social issues like poverty, crime and welfare. There were a couple of shrill right-wingers that would try and introduce abortion, school prayer and homosexuality into it all, and everyone was relieved when they stopped hanging with us after hours. I'm starting to realize that the shrill right-wingers are probably today's Republicans and the College Republicans I used to know are probably Independents.

[NWHarkness]

13. Bill Milliken

Longest serving governor in Michigan history. A decent man, and a strong environmentalist. Now, he's been banned from the Michigan GOP for being pro-choice.

[llmart]

33. I was going to mention him...

Today's Michigan GOP would never back someone like him. It truly is a shame, especially for the great state of Michigan.

[etherealtruth]

41. He was the first person to come to my mind

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Touting the excellence of Republicans is hard for me, but I'll offer one from Oregon's

past, Governor Tom McCall. He was a Republican. He did several good things, he was a creative force and had ideas other people would not have had. He was an environmentalist. He brought the bottle bill and recycling's roots, he championed public ownership of our coastlines, he produced an enormous multi day rock concert. All of this in the late 60's, while being a Republican.
Today's Republican Party would consider the great Mr McCall to be a radical tree hugging lefty. This is as you say a shame. Character and decency are absent from today's Republican Party.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_McCall#Vortex_I

[Berlin Expat]

26. I would also

add Vic Atiyeh as well; a decent governor and a decent human being. I met him once, actually. Nice fellow.

He helped to establish the USA's first statewide food bank, among other things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_G._Atiyeh

Heh; can you imagine someone like that in the GOP nowadays? Essentially, a centrist, and of Arab descent to boot? Whoo boy - the Teahadis would go into full-on meltdown!

[jeffrey_pdx]

58. Don't forget Mark Hatfield

I was a kid when he was a Senator, but everything I've heard about him is that he was a smart, decent, open-minded person. I guess it makes sense that to be a Republican elected to statewide office in Oregon, you have to be moderate.

In a related story, I met Allen Alley once (he ran in the Republican primary for governor a few years back), and he seemed like a nice genuine person. I disagree with most of his positions, so I would never vote for him, but he was what I would call "good people".

[lumberjack_jeff]

20. Dan Evans

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_J._Evans

And Abraham Lincoln. Okay that's two.

[valerief]

32. Lincoln's Republican Party is the Democratic Party today. nt

[grantcart]

48. I worked for Dan Evans

in 1972 I ran the youth campaign in Eastern Washington.

They joined with Nixon campaign to share a large room in one of Spokane's old down town run down buildings.

Everyone moved in and they asked us (teenagers) to paint it (it looked horrible) and we agreed. Within a few hours I had 30 high school students and we spent the weekend scraping and painting this room that was the size of a small gymnasium (but the ceiling was not so high).

We carefully measured the room in half and painted right up to the demarcation line and left the Nixon side in a dilapidated state.

Monday morning the staff came in and the result was rather shocking. The paint had dried perfectly and it looked like a modern office on one side and something from Mad Max on the other.

The grand opening was on Friday. They Evans people were bemused and the Nixon people had storm clouds above their heads. They eventually asked us if we would do the other side. "NO". A couple of days later they told us they would pay us to do it "NO". They tried to hire some people to do it. "NO". The asked the Nixon college group to do it and they finally agreed to do it for $ 2,500 but couldn't get anyone until the following week.

Friday there is a grand opening for the Evans campaign and a few hundred Republicans and news people spent the night staring up at the ceiling and the very exact line that divided the huge room.

After a while Gov Evans pulled me aside and said "Thanks so much for the paint job, you did exactly what I would have done. I am going to be chuckling about it all the way back to Olympia and I can tell you that the people on the West side of the state are going to have find it very amusing.

I would also drive Slade Gorton (who was a pretty good Attorney General) around when he was campaigning. He had an excellent memory and he knew the key facts on everyone he met (after not seeing me for a year when I met him he asked me how things were at the Church I attended, which he knew).

I would also drive Lud Kramer around. He was strange.

I worked very closely with Sam Reed a Republican, who is an honorable guy and refused to allow any monkey business when in the nearly tied Gubernatorial election and King County discovered and counted some extra Democratic ballots a day after the election (he could have easily blocked them and given the election to the Republicans).

I would throw in Nelson Rockefeller and Teddy Roosevelt as well. When Nelson Rockefeller came to the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle he was the first one through the gate and spent a day racing through the grounds searching out every New Yorker there leaving an exhausted press corp trying to keep up with him..

[lumberjack_jeff]

54. That is an awesome story! Anyone who could create the Evergreen State College can't be all bad

I wouldn't extend my praise to Slade Gorton. I think he was a pretty typical Repub.

[grantcart]

57. you mean "atypical"

Slade did a lot for consumer affairs as Attorney General.

I wasn't in the US during his Senate days.

He was very calculating. He moved to Washington State and changed to Episcopalian because 1) he thought he would have a better chance to get elected there and 2) Episcopalians have more money.

He not only created ESC he also scaled the admin building on opening day and served as President of the college as well.

[nyquil_man]

24. It is sad what's happened to the GOP.

They used to be a mainstream party.

[loyalsister]

25. MO governors

Kit Bond- There's a plaque in my city bus station thanking him for bringing home the bacon to expand our transit system. It has really been an excellent progression.

John Ashcroft- before he went off the rails, he called the Democratic GAA back into session to raise taxes in order to fund education and social programs

John Danforth partnered with Tom Eagleton to oppose the anti- stem cell research initiative in MO

I don't know how they would be in office now. But they did some good things.

[Cryptoad]

27. Wm F Buckley nt

[Bjorn Against]

29. If you go back far enough they were actually once the better of the two parties

They had Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Fighting Bob LaFollette, if we had lived back in those days most of us on this site would probably be Republicans. The party has changed drastically over the years as has the Democratic Party which was once filled with the most extreme racists. The two parties more or less switched places, today no progressive could even think about voting Republican.

[Warren Stupidity]

30. The "decent" republicans lost control of their party in 1964.

In 1968 Nixon ran a massively racist campaign explicitly intended to take southern whites from the Democratic Party. Then came Reagan. The rest is history, and here we are.

[valerief]

31. If we depended on Republicans, we wouldn't have Medicare.

http://www.ssa.gov/history/tally65.html

[sarge43]

34. Margaret Chase Smith, R-ME

In 1956 she said of McCarthyism, "I don't want to see the Republican Party ride to political victory on the four horsemen of calumny - fear, ignorance, bigotry and smear."

[Zorra]

35. It would have been a unique experience to actually have seen one before they became extinct. nt

[Demo_Chris]

36. There are still millions and millions of decent Republicans...

It is comforting the believe that we are not only the smartest people on the planet and that we have "god" on our side, while our political adversaries are all ignorant bigots or downright evil. It's foolish. It is this kind of mindless binary world view that leads to the cognitive dissonance of the typical Tea Partier.

[Zorra]

45. But why would any decent person belong to such a blatantly inhumane group as the republican party?

Can you name a single decent thing that the republican party actually does?

[valerief]

51. That question can't be answered, because if they were decent, they wouldn't be Republicans. nt

[Demo_Chris]

63. First, I think it is probably becoming harder for them to do so...

Second, there are undoubtedly many Republicans who wish to change the party from within -- in much the same way that many Liberal Democrats feel about our party. Remember, the GOP is not a unified group of people with shared goals and ideals. They are seriously divided. The three main "activist" factions within it's ranks are Paleo-Conservatives, Neo-Conservatives, and Social Conservatives, and on many issues these groups could hardly be further apart. During the Bush years the Neo-Cons, loosely allied with Social Cons, were leading the Party, but the collapse of the Neo-Con "brand" post-Bush left a vacuum that Social Conservatives were more than happy to fill.

In any case, the reason that we have these various parties is because very intelligent people have reached different conclusions about how best to govern and solve our nation's (and the World's) problems. If the solutions were SIMPLE these issues would have been solved long ago. We can look out into the universe and back in time almost 14 Billion years, all the way to mere moments after the Big Bang; we can track the Human Genome all the way back through our evolutionary chain to when life began here on earth; we can look at and measure the particles that make up the particles that make up the atoms... but we cannot come up with a simple and just means of governing ourselves that automatically adjusts for the flaws in our nature.

I happen to believe that the Democratic party, flawed as it might be, comes closer to that ideal. And while that is undoubtedly a poor answer to your post, it's the only one I can offer.

[RedCappedBandit]

38. "decent republicans" were registered to a completely different party

than the republican party of the modern world

[TNNurse]

39. They were not ignorant.

We might have disagreed with policies but they were civil (mostly) educated, well read, knew history and understood government. None of that can be said about the Tea Party and some other Republicans.

These members of Congress are dangerous in their ignorance. They clearly do not understand what government does. If this is not settled soon, they will have the blood on innocent Americans on their hands. Did they not understand the programs they were not funding? Hell, they do not understand the Park Service runs monuments and that they have put them out of work.

Every last one of them should beg the forgiveness of the officers who acted on their behalf yesterday who were working for IOUs. I bet there were many members of Congress who would not do anything for an IOU.

I have to quit now, I feel my blood pressure rising.

[KoKo]

40. Its all CHANGED...we aren't going back. But, educating folks about "The Past"

...well I think it's important...IF...they will listen.

But...I'ts THEIR WORLD....not ours.

That rubs me wrong...but, it is what it is.. If you can't be heard...then it means the Voice belongs to a different Generation. To make their own.

yeah..we hope they took something from us moving forward in our words and deeds...but, it's still "THEIR WORLD" to make it what they want.

I would wish for something ...nuanced.

[0rganism]

43. Sen. Wayne Morse

Had the nards to vote against the Gulf Of Tonkin resolution and openly oppose the war in Vietnam. Wish there were more like him.

[Bluenorthwest]

59. Morse started as a Republican, became an Independent and by the time of his vote againt

Gulf of Tonkin he was a Democrat. I see his statue several times a week in Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza. What a guy.

[Faygo Kid]

44. Bill Milliken, Gerald Ford and Mitt's parents. Outside Michigan, Jacob Javits.

Michigan has had its share - no more, of course. Sen. Arthur Vandenburg is another, isolationist opponent of the New Deal who became an internationalist.

There used to be many principled GOPers, and now there are none who will stand up to the Tea Party tyrants.

[Jamaal510]

46. I always get a kick out of how

Republicans today have been bitching about Obama eliminating the Bush tax cuts for top income earners, even though top taxes were much higher under Eisenhower (a Republican president). His tax rates put to shame the top tax rates of today. It's really a shame because up until Reagan, they really didn't seem to have much of a problem with taxing the rich. Reagan's presidency really opened up a can of worms that has made it more difficult for our country to pay its bills and look after our poor, once he popularized the trickle-down scam.

[SummerSnow]

47. Well who are these republicans today, what cave did they walk out of?

They're fucking evil

[H2O Man]

50. I agree.

There were good and decent people who were registered republicans, who served in national office. And I think there are still a few -- though they are people I know, on the local level.

[Tigress DEM]

52. New party structure

Let the rethug party die and the green rise up. Moderate Dems to Progressive Greens are the ones who CAN get the job done.

[valerief]

55. The 1% would never allow that and the 99% will never demand it. Too bad.

The best way to get that done is to keep young people from joining the military.

[Douglas Carpenter]

53. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein

Acclaimed historian Rick Perlstein chronicles the rise of the conservative movement in the liberal 1960s. At the heart of the story is Barry Goldwater, the renegade Republican from Arizona who loathed federal government, despised liberals, and mocked “peaceful coexistence” with the USSR. Perlstein’s narrative shines a light on a whole world of conservatives and their antagonists, including William F. Buckley, Nelson Rockefeller, and Bill Moyers. Vividly written, Before the Storm is an essential book about the 1960s.

http://www.amazon.com/Before-Storm-Goldwater-Unmaking-Consensus/dp/1568584121/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380937290&sr=1-1&keywords=Before+the+Storm%3A+Barry+Goldwater



http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/before-the-storm-rick-perlstein/1111304013?ean=9781568584126

[jazzimov]

56. Yep, I remember those days

and my biggest disconnect with Obama is that is that often I believe that he thinks that Republicans can be reasoned with as in the past. In the past, Republicans believed that the best way to prove their point was to keep the Government functioning.

But how can you reason with someone whose #1 agenda is to see you fail, no matter what it may cost the country?

[marlakay]

60. I know I know I am always telling my kids this

They have grown up thinking republicans are this way. My girls are in early 30's and I am always telling stories about news before entertainment and profit.

Telling them about how both sides use to be civil and work for the good of the country and both tried to take care of people and get them jobs. Both use to care for the poor.

[freshwest]

61. Very good description of good men of any party or not. I've known a few I had great respect for:

My father's attorney, and on his desk at his law firm was an engraved placard:

Are all parties agreed?
Is it fair to all parties?
Is it the right thing to do?

I might add, some of my family were Republicans, but they believed strongly in social democracy, equal rights for all and fair play.

None of them had any problem with unions, civil rights or a secular state, or public works, taking care of their employees or good wages. They were aware of past injustices, and worked to see all lifted up.

They were big believers in education, science and compassion. They saw what we were up against in WW2.

In the last decade, I knew two Republican officials who earned my respect, but they also understood when I said I could not vote for them and lose majority. They won their elections anyway, no hard feelings and they still have my respect,

Because we got to the heart of the matter and their conscience came calling, as they were both religious. Not radical right Christians, but still they felt their God had a heart for the poor and vulnerable.

That was the mission to them and they put their economics, party and ideology aside. In general the GOP is against social programs.

But what we presented to them, was a necessity. We proved it could not be done to save lives without government. They voted with us and against their party leaders with their ALEC funded agenda.

Another time I was talking to some others at a local fair booth in my area, and we discussed the issues. I brought up equality. They said they were all for it.

Mind you, this was before the extreme baggers took control of the party, hating on the poor. They really did see it as a difference in governing style, not that the govvernment and the people who depended on a lifeline were immoral or worthless mouths.

They were in favor of the taking of a state property for private use, although it was essential for those people who lived there. I asked them if those people had equal rights. 'Of course they do,' they said. 'But the land should be put to better use.'

To which I answered, there are many properties used by universities. Those people are able bodied, have acres of land that is kept for them to enjoy.

Are they worth more than these poor ones who can not attend school? Do you feel that as they will not be university students, so they should not get to enjoy any green space or housing, as the students do?

The look on their face was priceless. It was an ah-ha moment. Mind you, they were also pro-lifers. There are times when things do not go as planned, and a child is born who cannot ever achieve the Randian idea of Superman or even what most expect.

They are human beings, and our Constitution says they have rights. Not to be abridged because they are different. If they wanted to say they were for equality as the Constitution says 'all men are created equal,' they could not treat them as checkers to be swept off the playing board.

Another Republican got into the same affair and spoke before lawmakers. He was with the armies that went through German concentration camps. He said he did not fight a war to come home and see our citizens be mistreated.

Those Republicans are mostly part of a different generation, except the two lawmakers I spoke who were younger. But at this time, I cannot and will not vote for any Republican. I know who my friends are by their party platform

That does not mean that all the Democrats I've come across have been allies. Some are more in love with slogans than anything else. They do not 'get it' in terms of real people that can be hurt, only their vision of perfection of a future while they sweep away everything in the present that works.

I appreciate the anecdote very much, well written. But the malignant cancer of the current GOP must be excised from politics, their allegiance is not with the people of the USA, but a small class. That is their platform, which can sink and take them with it.

[KinMd]

62. Sen. George Aiken from Vermont

[Recursion]

68. Everett Dirksen was pretty cool (nt)

[Hekate]

69. I remember it -- back when the federal government used to function

Before Newt Gingrich, and egads, who were those three criminals who decided to divide the country in 3 parts? One had the face of a choirboy and assigned himself to cynically exploit Christians ... Before RW anarchists and Grover Norquist decided to drown the government in a bathtub...

They decided to take the country apart and wreck it like a toy they were tired of. What did the rest of us do to deserve that? None of us deserves what was done to us.

Anyway, Raven, I actually remember a time when I respected Republicans in office, and trusted that the two parties would work something out in Washington because despite agreements on details they believed in the principle of governing.

I agree with you -- we need a decent second party as our loyal opposition.