(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . MY PARENTS WERE REPUBLICANS [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-31 My parents were Republicans. My father’s father and my mother’s grandfather were both career politicians, and both members of the Grand Old Party. My dad was all of seven, when he brought in a postcard addressed to his father that read, “The KKK Will Get You”. There are few better ways of knowing you’re doing something right, than getting a threat from the Klan. (This was, incidentally, the Klan of the 1920s, a national organization with some real political power.) Few modern Republicans could claim a similar honor. My mother went to what was then called The Pennsylvania College For Women. After graduating, she worked as alumnae secretary, which was how she got to know the college’s best known alumna, a lady named Rachel Carson. My mom was green back in the fifties. My sister and I grew up playing in an organic garden, when we weren’t weeding it. Dad used to watch “The 700 Club” sometimes, amazed that anyone could think that way in the twentieth century. Mom was screamingly pro choice. They both saw no reason why Gays shouldn’t have the same rights as everyone else. Both of them had seen the rise of fascism in Europe, so they considered book burning an abomination. They weren’t big fans of censorship of any kind. Mom encouraged me to read John Steinbeck. Dad got me reading Sinclair Lewis. I suppose that’s part of the reason I grew up to be a Democrat. That, and the current GOP is not my parents’ Republican party. In 1978, I voted for Richard Thornburg for governor of Pennsylvania, because he was, hands down, the better candidate. He was a decent guy. He pushed for better special education programs, even if they cost money. Last year, the Republican candidate for governor was posting on anti Semitic web sites. Gone are the days when those sites were only for high school dropouts with criminal records. I was a kid, when I watched the 1964 Republican Convention with my parents. We were all rooting for William Scranton to get the nomination. He’d been governor of Pennsylvania, and he’d done a good job. My parents thought he’d do a good job as president. I thought it would be neato to have a president from Pennsylvania. Instead, the nomination went to Barry Goldwater, who was, back then, considered extreme. (These days he’d be called a moderate.) But that was the beginning of the changes in the Republican Party. Four years later, Nixon was the nominee. These days he’d be considered a moderate. Though, before he resigned, he was planning for a third term. The party of Lincoln made a Faustian bargain with segregationists and racists. The party of Eisenhower made a Faustian bargain with religious zealots. Mom had to talk herself into voting for Ronald Reagan. She had to do it twice, once in 1980 and again in 1984. (The second time was harder, because Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic candidate for vice president. Mom was a great one for supporting women candidates. She always said they had to be smarter than the men. Mom never encountered Lauren Boebert.) She couldn’t talk herself into voting for George H.W. Bush, and she hated his policies. She died before she could vote for Clinton. I laugh and think what she would say about the current crop of candidates. Her usual term of dismissal was ass, meaning animal with hooves. If she was truly put out, she might call someone an SOB. I think most of the current Republican leadership would achieve SOB status. Over the years I’ve had friends who were Republicans. They’re still my friends, but they aren’t Republicans. Most left the party on account of George W. Trump was just the icing on the cake. The current GOP is not the party of Lincoln, or Eisenhower, or William Scranton, or even Barry Goldwater. It is not my parents’ Republican party. It hasn’t been for a long time. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/31/2183705/-MY-PARENTS-WERE-REPUBLICANS Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/