Not My GOP

Notes of Concern…

   …Jack Blair

NOT MY GOP

 I have been active in politics for decades. I set on the executive committee of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. I managed the Congressional campaign of a Democrat. I was liaison with General Eisenhower when Governor William Scranton sought the presidency in 1964. I attended presidential nominating conventions. A son of a Democrat U.S.Senator was in my wedding party. Although I opposed the nomination of Senator Barry Goldwater I ended up traveling on his whistle stop campaign after he won the nomination.

All that I learned through those experiences seems inadequate today. The traditional rules no longer apply.

The wise old men of the Democratic and Republican parties used to be able to structure the national ticket. Those days are over.

Everyone complains that the GOP is in the hands of the Tea Party people or the extreme conservatives. Yet, that ignores that the nomination of John McCain and Mitt Romney completely negates that thought. When the GOP nominates moderates or liberals they lose. Both Romney and McCain had more experience and practice in politics than the man who beat them, twice, Barack Obama

Lets look back on that. How did Obama win? He convinced people he would change a political system that the people no longer trusted. In my view, he largely failed in producing that result.

So now the GOP has front runners, Trump and Carson, who also are outside the usual network. This is no surprise. The Dems tried it twice and it worked. Why would the GOP nominate a traditional candidate after being beaten by a Democrat who was not at all a traditional candidate.

Here is what we know: the American people are tired of politics as usual. They are looking for new leaders. If the GOP brokers the convention to give the nomination to a traditional candidate they will certainly lose the election. They may lose it anyway but the loss would be ensured by the nomination of a traditional candidate.

The American people who now vote lived during a time when we were the leader of the free world. We were not frightened of other nations or philosophies.

In the last 16 years we have seen our country vilified. We have seen our leadership in the world reduced. As I have said in so many columns, our allies do not trust us and our enemies do not fear us.

America needs a new kind of leader. If we do not identify that person soon, our decline will continue.