The Republican Party, Then and Now

[jpn of Seattle]

Back [in 1995], House Republicans loudly trumpeted their strict new near-ban on lobbyists' gifts to representatives and staffers; in 2003, they gutted the gift ban by raising the gift-value limit by about tenfold. Back then, they put stricter limits on the types of free junkets available to members and staff; in 2003, they exempted "charitable" junkets from those limits. Back then, they boasted about opening the legislative process to public scrutiny by making all committee hearings (unless classified for security reasons) open to the public; now, they write most of the significant parts of their bills behind the closed doors of House-Senate conferences.

....Republicans also changed the rule governing how ethics investigations can start in the first place. The former rule was that if the ethics committee remained in a 50-50 partisan deadlock for 45 days about whether to launch an investigation, an inquiry would begin. That way, the minority at least earned the right to be heard. This month, the GOP conference changed that rule to require that a majority of the committee must agree before the panel can start an investigation. The upshot? A determined majority party can now protect any one of its members from internal House investigation, no matter how reasonable the minority's suspicions.

[Sandy]

You have put your finger on one of the reasons I am no longer a Republican. They basically have no agenda that even remotely resembles how they were voting back in the 60s and 70s. There are very few congressmen who will do what they promised and I feel they all should be dumped in 2006. WE have a chance at getting rid of them but it will take some locating better candidates. Ah, there's the rub. Are there any men in politics who have the balls to do what they promised their backers? Not from where I can see.

The GOP should hang their heads in shame at the money they are spending on pork and the legislation they are writing based on our private lives. This is not the Republican party I joined in 1954.

We need a third party now! We need a limited government party who will downsize the whole structure of the government and let us live our lives on our own terms. We definitely need a government that is not heading for world government.

[freespirit]

Sandy, have you looked into the Libertarian Party? They just might be what you're looking for...

[Justin6898]

I'm quickly moving to where you are now, Sandy.

Republicans are over-spending and paying too much attention to the private lives of its citizens. Sometimes that's good, sometimes its not.

-Justin

[Spotcheck]

They basically have no agenda that even remotely resembles how they were voting back in the 60s and 70s.

They have a huge agenda now -- to dismantle the New Deal and all that is deemed Socialistic and create the Ownership Society The reason they are voting differently now than they did then is because America has been undergoing a Conservative political movement since 1994 -- when the finally took Congress back from Democrats. They have won seven of the last Presidential elections and look to be in a position to change the makeup of the Supreme Court. Anyone who comes to control all three branches of the Federal Government can be said to be in power!

[goddesscon]

They basically have no agenda that even remotely resembles how they were voting back in the 60s and 70s.

They have a huge agenda now -- to dismantle the New Deal and all that is deemed Socialistic and create the Ownership Society The reason they are voting differently now than they did then is because America has been undergoing a Conservative political movement since 1994 -- when the finally took Congress back from Democrats. They have won seven of the last Presidential elections and look to be in a position to change the makeup of the Supreme Court. Anyone who comes to control all three branches of the Federal Government can be said to be in power!

SO?
What is your point....
They are in power...whoopdie do.... The way they vote shows who they represent...
Has fuck all to do with power...has all to do with lobby money imo...
I do not take delight in knowing the reps have the majority...however, it should put some pressure on them knowing they can not be blaming the Dems for over spending...the reps are doing a much better job at it then the dems could dream of...difference is ...dems spend the money for social programs...reps spend it on the military...what a great way to spend that dosh eh??? Either spend it for healthcare and kids or spend it on bombs and killing... Yep...power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely....

[Sandy]

I joined the LP in 1992, veered off with Perot and then back to Harry Browne in 1996 and have stay Libertarian ever since. Sadly, after attending meetings and conventions since then I have discovered that many Libertarians have gotten too "cool" to bother to vote. They are also promoting many illegal actions such as not paying their taxes. Many are in prison for this action and that is not for me. I feel we all can do better for our causes by staying out of prison.

The GOP no longer represents my cause and has divided up America into religious and non-religious, which is simply making women and gays into second class citizens.

I see the waste of my tax money coming out of the White House and it makes me sick. I don't want an Emperor will full power over me, I want a President who can live within the constitution and the white house budget. The display of over 20 christmas trees in the white house made me sick. I buy my own christmas decorations and apparently the white house's too.

The Leave no Child Behind is the biggest farce this country as ever seen. I read an article yesterday saying that the parents are not changing schools and would rather have their kids closer to home. Millions of our tax dollars are wasted every day that Bush stays in power.

If he hadn't made promises to the people about their kid's education I would have had a lot more respect for him but he has pandered to every level of Amerifcan citizens possible. Now he wants to give VISAs to illegal aliens. What the hell is that all about?

My loss of respect for the GOP started with Bush 41 and I seldom vote for even my congressman here in Arizona who turned out to be a weak-kneed fool who backs every bill Bush presents.

In Arizona, we are solving our bad education policies by opening up Charter schools and they are working! We have brought up the reading scores of many of the students who bored to death in our government schools. The Republican Party of Arizona is against charter schools!!! Go figure.

[Beethoven's Cricket]

What you will SAY to get yourself elected and what you will DO to get yourself re-elected are two different things. Both parties are guilty of it but the most egregious offender right now is the GOP. Remember term limits? Remember family friendly legislation? Remember fiscal responsibility and a little thing known as pay-as-you-go? I do. The Republicans don't. Their hypocricy is outlandish and astounding but the buffoonery of Dubya makes most people forget about the real issues at hand and the people don't care until it bites them in the ass.

[potter]

"They are also promoting many illegal actions such as not paying their taxes. Many are in prison for this action and that is not for me. I feel we all can do better for our causes by staying out of prison. "

I agree with this. So much of the tax money is wasted or spent on unnecessary pet projects of the ruling class, we have no real say over our government anyway. The ruling class picks the candidates that will represent THEM the best and then allows us to vote on them...how is that representation?

The ruling class makes the laws we all have to follow but the government does not allow the people to police them...IOW...no accountability for the rulers.

If I was represented by a responsible government, I would have no problem paying my share of taxes, but under current circumstances, I don't want to pay taxes either.

[Beethoven's Cricket]

The Leave no Child Behind is the biggest farce this country as ever seen. I read an article yesterday saying that the parents are not changing schools and would rather have their kids closer to home. Millions of our tax dollars are wasted every day that Bush stays in power.


This is another example of Republican policy gone bad. The intent was to make schools more accountable but it wound up being another unfunded mandate. Remember the howling and screaming the GOP did in the fall of 1994 about the Democrats passing bills and laws that they subsequetially did not fund? It was an unfunded mandate from the government and that is exactly what NCLB has turned into. It has been underfunded since the second year it was in operation.

If this was $87 billion for Halliburton, you damn sure it would be passed but since it's for little kids and they don't vote and they certainly contribute thousands of dollars to the Bush re-election effort, they don't count. Hypocricy.

[Sandy]

I should have seen the problems within the Republican Party in 1964 when the fight was on to choose between Goldwater and Rockefeller to run for the White House. The Republican National Committee was 100% behind Rockefeller and his global government but the Convention delegates pulled it off for Goldwater.

Goldwater was demanding a more limited government, more individual freedoms and keeping the government out of our personal lives. He was an unabashed Capitalist who was dedicated to the right to bear arms and strengthen up our State Laws.

I was not yet aware of the one world order groups from America and Europe who wanted a huge federal government in America which would make it more difficult for individuals to express their opinions let alone demand that their legislators live by their promises. I recognize it now. This whole one world order has now evolved into the neocons who are running our white house under the last 3 Presidents. GOP vs Dem does not matter but weakening the economy, dumbing down the kids and their parents was exactly what they were working on.

Our American future has been planned for 40 years to break down our economy, government and the entire family unit piece by piece. Our greatest enemy is apathy. I remember that 1964 election clearly and thousands of us went door to door from one coast to the other and it looked as if Goldwater had it all over LBJ 2 to 1. The 2004 election felt the same way with Las Vegas giving odds that both Goldwater and Kerry would win! For 40 years I have wondered how LBJ won that election when our combined efforts for Goldwater showed us such a vast number of people over the Democrats. I remember the RNC coming out with the statement that only Rockefeller could have beaten LBJ, but who wanted that rotter in the White House.

I’ve learned that when people enter a voting booth, little of what we try to tell them matters at all. I had the same experience here in my district in November. I found few who wanted Bush. Even in my exercise class, we have 35 women and only two of them were Bush supporters. Not being a television watcher I had no idea of the kind of advertising the RNC or DNC had promoted but obviously not enough to defeat Bush.

I’m not kidding about dumbing down our kids. I remember searching for a good school in 1964 when my older girl was just entering first grade. I did not like the language coming out of her friends in the neighborhood and searched out a good private school to give her a good head start. By the time both my girls were out of high school they were far ahead of even the graduates of our California State Colleges. It was amazing what parents were accepting as academics in the government schools.

I also saw a change of attitude in the family values. Even back in 1964, trading wives and husbands spending Friday nights looking for action was everywhere. I know because I was working in corporate offices before I got married. The divorce rates were soaring, child abuse was surfacing and drugs became part of the family neighborhood. I felt we needed Goldwater badly in 1964 but the voters decided big government (Big Daddy) was what they wanted.

We now have a President who was elected by direction from the ministers and priests throughout America. These voters wouldn’t know a moral value if it bit them and bought all Bush’s promises of banning abortions, gay marriages and stem cell research. In my opinion it was the ill-educated masses who came in like a tsunami of ignorance. Remember these are the people who followed LBJ into the great society that ended up destroying what was left of their schools, corporate profits and family values. Lining up for welfare checks do nothing for the values of any family.

I’m afraid we have slipped beyond repair. A new level of corruption has entered our House, Senate and most assuredly our White House. I can’t believe that any Administration was able to get away with the lies and manipulations that the Bush people have brought to the government. Knowing this is a result of the Christian Coalition only makes it more pitiful. But without education of our kids, it will continue.

It took Nixon to prove to me that the GOP was no better than the Democrats as far as moral values go

[Beethoven's Cricket]

I was going to respond to you, Sandy, but you did a far better job of summarizing my problems with the GOP than I could. I'm going to leave well enough alone.

[Spotcheck]

And so shall I, although I was in the other camp when Sandy was discussing the 1964 elections. It was pretty simple. lbj's nuclear warhead going off indicated to voters what they might expect were Goldwater to be elected. Those were horrid times and Vietnam ripped this nation apart like no other war I have ever heard about except the Civil War.

I do agree about the dumbing down in public schools though. In the last 30 years it has gotten worse. English teachers do not know how to teach proper American English, for example. That is a tragedy and one that needs corrective action as does immigration reform. If we are not careful, we shall lose the entire Southwest of this nation to Mexico.

[TheNextEra]

If we are not careful, we shall lose the entire Southwest of this nation to Mexico.

Haven't we already? Afterall isn't Bi-lingual being reinforced in schools now so that those that can't speak English get taught in Spanish?

[Spotcheck]

Perhaps, but I sure do not hear enough about it for our politicians. This whole situation is making me sick. George Bush should be on this like crazy, since it has long been the stated policy of the Mexican government to take over the Southwest again.