Final in a series: If I would offer to help the GOP save itself from destruction by throwing my hat into the ring as a progressive candidate for the presidency of the United States, would Trump threaten to kill me or threaten to have me killed as so many of his supporters do these days?
If I were to run in the Republican Primaries for President, these items would be on my platform (Pt. 2)
If I were to run in the Republican Primaries for President, these items would be on my platform (Pt. 1)
Barbara Tuchman wrote that once upon a time: ' Progressive" had much the same meaning as "liberal." But they were not a fringe group but important, determined men at the heart of the party, with "Fighting Bob" La Follette, governor of and later senator from Wisconsin, at their head. He was joined by Sen. Hiram Johnson of California, Senators Borah of Idaho, Norris of Nebraska, Beveridge of Indiana. They were followed by teachers, city councilors, legislators, writers, and most articulate of all, by the journalist William Allen White of Kansas editor of the Emporia Gazette, which he had made famous by his 1896 editorial "What's the Matter with Kansas?"
If I would try to run as Progressive Republican against Trump would he indirectly threaten my life as he has done B4?
By Kevin Stoda
On my father's side, there is a long lineage of Republican voters dating back into the 19th Century[--My great, great grandfather Stoda died as Civil War Vet and had voted to free the slaves with Lincoln].
However, in 1980, my first year to be able to vote, I quickly determined to not vote for Ronald Reagan, but instead I voted naively for the independent candidate, John Anderson (a Republican who had originally run earlier in 1980 against Reagan and Bush), for president that November. I made this decision because I could not imagine turning-the-clock back on the progress in social programs and environmental protection projects of the 1970s and early 1980s. Offering to cut off progress for saving money for the rich and the war-makers was a no go for me.
To this present day, i.e. from the early 1980s onwards, the nation and the GOP with its misguided allies turned to demigods, like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump, to roll back the clock.
Nevertheless, from 1980s through 2017, I have often been registered as a Republican (or occasionally as an Independent). I voted for Senator Kassabaum numerous times in Kansas. I voted in numerous primaries and at city and state level for Republicans or Independents. Nonetheless, over nearly 40 years, I have never voted for a single Republican candidate for president.
On the one hand, I understand that currently over 50 percent of current Republicans think that Donald Trump (a most shameless abuser of Christians and Christianity for his political whims) is or was a better president than Abraham Lincoln was. This is insane. However, some 47% of the GOP does not stand with Trump fully, so I smell a window for rescuing the party.
It is now clear that if the GOP is to survive well into the 2020s, it needs to make its tent larger and allow Republican voters to consider someone who challenges the typical Republican demigods and offers a better and more progressive path for Americans, America, and the world.
Starting now in the primaries a Progressive (similar to Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or even Andrew Yang) must be placed under consideration for GOP voters in primaries. I have been hoping some brave soul will stand up--but fear is heavy and hope is low for some 47% of Republicans these days. However, let's not forget that a lot of GOP voters in Missouri and Kansas almost pushed Bernie Sanders to the top of the Democratic Party ticket in 2016 primaries, i.e. where voters were often have been found crossing over to vote in other's primaries.
Many war-veterans coming home from American wars tired of our endless surveillance and over-reach around the world. They also want a president NOW who will really bring the troops home and at the same time build stable global relations to get things, like implementing a green new deal and real infrastructure spending for schools, transportation, and on housing back on course.
It's time that the Grand Old Party becomes Grand again.
NOTES
Tuchman, Barbara, "Where have the Republican progressives gone? And why has 'liberal' become a dirty word in America?", https://www.csmonitor.com/1988/1031/etuch.html
