Until 2003, I was a lifelong Republican and proud of it. Coming of age in the 1980’s and beyond, I was conservative when it so wasn’t cool. But I greatly admired President Ronald Reagan’s leadership and what the GOP represented: fiscal discipline, a strong national defense and traditional values.
My, how times – and the GOP has changed.
These eyes were opened wide beginning with the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. At the time, I argued in The Charlotte Observer against the invasion – as a Republican and U.S. Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War. I believed it would be disastrous to our nation and to Iraq. Because I put what I saw as the good of the nation above the priority of a president and a political party, many fellow Republicans gave me the tongue lashing of a lifetime in response.
It was at that point I realized that today’s GOP demands loyalty to the party and to achieving power over loyalty to the constitution and the good of the nation. Defy the party line and you are branded a liberal and traitor.
If the Gipper could see the state of politics today and hear the viciousness in the right’s rhetoric toward Democrats and this president, he’d be rolling in his grave.
Anyone who served in his and his predecessor’s Army knew well that it’s one thing to dislike an officer, a general, or the commander-in-chief; but quite another to disrespect any of them up the chain of command. That behavior was unprofessional and unacceptable.
This leads me to the insufferable behavior of today’s congressional Republicans and their leadership. As President Barack Obama prepares to give his jobs speech tonight to a joint session of congress, certain members have been telling the media they won’t be attending. And House and Senate leaders John Boehner and Mitch McConnell openly encourage this odious and disrespectful behavior.
If Democratic lawmakers showed such a vile and public level of disrespect towards a Republican president, the GOP, right-wing pundits and voters’ heads would collectively explode. As with so many other forms of the right’s hypocrisy, the same standards don’t apply to them.
For a member of congress to flaunt such profound disrespect for the president of the United States and his office is beyond disturbing. It’s also unprofessional, unacceptable and a terrible example to set for our nation’s children.
Those legislators who sit out tonight’s speech have no business serving in public office. Their priority is not the good of the nation, but to destroy Obama’s presidency and the social safety net. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that first goal plainly shortly after Obama took office.
In today’s political climate, I often wonder what President Reagan would think of it all if he were still on the scene. Based on his record, he probably wouldn’t feel much at home with today’s GOP. It’s important to remember, he never saw the Democratic Party as an enemy, but as the loyal opposition. He refused to demonize his opponents on the other side of the aisle by party or name. And it’s commonly known that he had a warm, albeit combative relationship with legendary Democratic House Speaker Tip O’Neil.
Reagan was a realist, not an ideologue. His flexibility and independent-mindedness in governing served him well and explains why he was so highly regarded across the political spectrum. He raised taxes when it was called for, argued in favor of raising the debt ceiling to ensure the U.S. government’s full faith and credit, deplored the use of torture against enemies and rightly chose to bring our Marines home from Lebanon rather than risking more of their lives in someone else’s civil war. He also refused the advice of Republican elders to not trust Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Because his realist instincts were right, the Cold War was won without a shot fired.
Today’s Republican Party in no way resembles the party Reagan once led so successfully. All reason and good faith is gone. The GOP may not see it now, but if they continue down the path of contempt and putting the interests of the wealthy and corporate elites before the interests of the working class just to hurt this president, it could very well go the way of the Whigs.
It’s time for Republicans to stop paying lip service to the greatness of our former president and start acting like him, instead.
