That's right. The first Republican county convention was held in Ripon, Wisconsin on this date in 1854.
And no one has delivered a proper eulogy.
It died from complications suffered in advanced stages of hypocrisy, though few seemed to notice. It spent its waning years neglected, unwanted, unloved. But it wasn't always that way.
Back in its prime, it could even teach a chimp morality.
"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it."
"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it."
Its childhood was, in many respects, a thing of beauty to behold. Abraham Lincoln was the very model of introspection, with rhetorical skills few can match today. He is quoted so often because he was so amazingly quotable. Supporters of Barack Obama are well advised to arm themselves with this pearl of Linconian wisdom:
"If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference." [all Lincoln quotes]
Issues, people. Issues.
In its prime, the Republican Party was at the forefront of race relations. The Ku Klux Klan Act was enacted to protect the newly-freed Negro slaves and their Republican supporters.
Its next giant was Theodore Roosevelt. What Democrat could honestly argue with sentiments like these:
"We demand that big business give the people a square deal; in return we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business honestly endeavors to do right he shall himself be given a square deal."
Viewed purely in the abstract, I think there can be no question that women should have equal rights with men."..."Especially as regards the laws relating to marriage there should be the most absolute equality between the two sexes. I do not think the woman should assume the man's name." [this quote is from 1880!]
"The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others." [source]
With respect to equality for women, Roosevelt was nearly thirty years ahead of Susan B. Anthony.
In your heart, you knew that Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) was far-right, but on this point, he was definitely right: "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice ... and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." But few are even aware of his exposition of the traditional Republican view on gays in the military:
We have wasted enough precious time, money and talent trying to persecute and pretend. It's time to stop burying our heads in the sand and denying reality for the sake of politics. It's time to deal with this straight on and be done with it. It's time to get on with more important business.
The conservative movement, to which I subscribe, has as one of its basic tenets the belief that government should stay out of people's private lives. Government governs best when it governs least - and stays out of the impossible task of legislating morality. But legislating someone's version of morality is exactly what we do by perpetuating discrimination against gays. [source]
And then, there was the Messiah: Ronald Reagan. Before he entered his long and tragic slide into senility, and others weren't doing his thinking for him, he was a man of sound principles. In a 1975 interview, President Reagan explained what Republicans as a party stood for:
I think the Republican Party should take the lead and, as I say, raise that banner and say this is what we stand for. And what we stand for would be fiscal responsibility. .... I think that it should be a government, or a party, that has a position that makes it plain that even though there are social faults that may lead to people turning to crime the individual must be held accountable for his misdeeds. That on the world scene we’re going to do whatever is necessary to insure that we can retain this free system of ours; in other words, we will maintain a defensive posture that is sufficient to deter aggression." [source]
What would the man who proclaimed that "democracies don't start wars," and believed in being "a well-armed dove" have said about our military adventure in Iraq? What would the man who said that "[i]nflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man" say about Shrub's debasement of the currency, or our ballooning national debt? Couldn't he say, with conviction, that the Republican Party left him?
What would Reagan say about the "unitary executive"? "Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty." About civil rights? "I favor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and it must be enforced at gunpoint if necessary." About individual liberties? "Protecting the rights of even the least individual among us is basically the only excuse the government has for even existing." Reagan even speaks to us from the grave, and we had better be listening:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same. [source]
We shouldn't hate the Republican Party. Rather, we should mourn its passing.