Save the Republican Party; An Open Letter to Jennifer Rubin

Recently, some people have begun to give up on the Republican Party saying that it no longer exists thanks to Donald J Trump and his various legions of followers.

I believe that is wrong. The framework that can allow the rejuvenation of the GOP still exists and any thought that starting a new party from scratch to oppose the Democrats is an uphill challenge with the odds heavily against success. Yes, the Whigs gave up and the Republican party was born in the middle of the 19^th Century but there is no valid comparison to those times and these.

And why am I writing to Jennifer Rubin about this?

Rubin was hired by the Washington Post to write an op-ed column from the Conservative (read Republican) viewpoint. This was an effort to provide some balance to the host of other, liberal/progressive columnists in the Post.

Then, along came Donald J Trump and Ms. Rubin, foreseeing the danger he posed to the Country and to her party, lit into him immediately with fervor and wicked determination that rivaled anything the other liberal columnists were dishing out.

However, in her Column of November 6, 2017, after “dressing down” the timid, fearful Republican office holders who are not standing up to and speaking out against the Trump menace, she appeared to be exasperated to the point of giving up on the Grand Old Party.

She wrote: “Between Trump’s mendacity and GOP lawmakers’ passivity, the GOP of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and both Bushes is no longer recognizable. It likely isn’t even rescuable. And if not, well, good riddance (Bold added).” 

So, I decided to write to Jennifer, as follows.

“Dear Ms. Rubin,

You have been stalwart in fighting to save the Country from Donald J Trump but please don’t give up the fight to save the Grand Old Party. It is rescuable and your voice in this effort is important. Why save it (?), well, as Harry Truman was fond of saying, “let’s look at the record.”

In today’s column, you name a few of its’ prominent presidents, including Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H W Bush who have served the Country well.

But they are not alone.

The GOP is also the party of Senators such as Arthur Vandenburg, Robert Taft, Leverett Saltonstall, John Sherman Cooper, Clifford Case, Margaret Chase Smith, Everett Dirkson, Tom Kuchel, Bob Dole, Connie Mack, Nancy Kassebaum, Bill Cohen, John Chaffee, John Warner, Howard Baker, Richard Lugar, Pete Domenici and Jacob Javitts.

It is the party of House members such as Joseph Martin, Charles Halleck, Bob Michel, Gerald Ford (later President), Hamilton Fish, Tom Railsback, Gilbert Gude, Charles “Mac”Mathias (later Senator), Rogers C B Morton, Robert McClory, John Rhodes and Jack Kemp.

It is the party of Governors such as Earl Warren (later Supreme Court Chief Justice), Walter Hickle, Nelson Rockefeller, Jim Thompson, Frank Lausche, Christian Herter (later Secretary of State), William Scranton, Tommy Thompson, Frank Keating, Tom Kean, Christine Todd Whitman and Bob Martinez.

It is the party of such distinguished Republicans as Wendell Wilkie, William Rogers, Elliot Richardson, William Ruckelshaus, James A Baker III, John J Sirica, Sandra Day O’Conner, Brent Scowcroft, Fiorello La Guardia, William J Brennan, George Shultz, Malcolm Baldridge, William Webster, John Paul Stevens, Colin Powell and William Coleman.

Above all, this is the party of Abraham Lincoln.

And if you say that party no longer exists, it now belongs to the Koch Brothers, the neo-nazis, the racial and gender bigots, and the other hard core Trump voters (never to Donald J Trump), why that’s to give up a fight that millions of non-Trump, non neo –nazi, non bigots and non Koch Brothers Republicans desperately need smart people like you to make.    Save the Country first but save the Republican Party also.    We’re counting on you, Jennifer!”

Having written that to Jennifer, I say it is up to every thinking Republican to work tirelessly on behalf of restoring the GOP to carrying on its proud heritage before the “dry rot” of modern times led to the emergence in the name of the party of Lincoln(?) of Donald J Trump.

Run for office at every level if you are able. Support other candidates for office who represent the traditional GOP, talk it up in your community, write letters to the editor, post on Social Media, and VOTE, vote for any reasonable candidate of any party other than candidates who come to you in the image of Donald J Trump or his fellow traveling thugs, such as Steven Bannon, the “DarthVadar”of forces dedicated to the destruction of our Country’s traditional values and way of life.

Let us return to the time of civil debate and disagreement between the two parties. Let the pendulum swing back and forth between public favor of one over the other. But let us proceed as one peoples in one country, united in brotherhood in that “pursuit of happiness” to which our Founders dedicated us.