Sandy Treadwell was New York Secretary of State from 1995-2001 and Chairman of the New York Republican State Committee from 2001-2004. From 2004-2008, he was a member of the Republican National Committee from New York. He is now an artist living in Southern California.
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I am pro choice. I know that global warming has placed the earth in peril. I believe that the sale of assault weapons should be banned. I do not believe in the death penalty. I am for gay marriage. Doug Parker, the author of this excellent blog, describes himself as a Republican in exile. He has my company in the wilderness.
When I was Chairman of the Republican Party in New York State, I was proud that our Party was inclusive. While we believe in individual freedom, less-rather-than-more government and a strong national defense, we welcomed different viewpoints on social issues into our “big tent.” But that was before the Tea Party went about purging centrists from our elected ranks. Before evangelicals swelled our numbers. Before our Party veered to the hard right. When Fox News was mainly a curiosity. Back then moderates like me were welcome. And back then a fellow New Yorker named Trump was a pro-choice Democrat. Now he is a Republican president who is taking my Party through a cracked, warped looking glass. We are daily witnessing a new tea party presided over by a mad hatter with orange hair. He doesn’t read. He doesn’t prepare. He doesn’t consult. His only interest is self-interest.
And fearful Republican Congressmen and Senators enable Trump as he tears down governmental institutions, castigates longtime allies and panders to authoritarian adversaries. The only critical GOP voices belong to those not seeking reelection. And astonishingly his base still holds firm. Seventy percent of Republicans think the Helsinki Summit with Putin was a success, a bewildering, surreal stat that is regrettably not fake news. I am most definitely in the minority; a thirty percenter through and through.
Trump’s recent trip abroad was a debacle. So is his presidency. I hope it will end soon, either by resignation or impeachment. Meanwhile I hope the Democrats will win both houses of Congress in November.
So why am I still a Republican? Because I believe that the right wing’s dominance of my Party is temporary. Political history is cyclical. The Republican Party will return to the center, perhaps after being shaken and awakened by a disastrous midterm election this November. Its current unbalanced and unprincipled leader will be history too. I believe my Party’s core principles still hold. Right now there isn’t much room for me in the tent. I’ve been pushed to a far corner, where I’m stifling. Winds will blow however. Change will come.
Cue John Kasich, who could well achieve the White House, especially if the Democrats are foolish enough to nominate a progressive like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Meanwhile I’m hanging in.
In the day room in my Army days there was a sign that read “when you can keep you head when all about you are losing theirs you probably do not understand the gravity of the situation “
Sandy: Thanks for this. After the temporary aberration of the Trump Presidency, the GOP will have to rebuild itself on the traditional foundations you described: fiscal discipline, free trade, strong defense, strong alliances.
You could equally well imagine that the Democrats will someday return to some mythical center ground. Yet both parties seem to be rowing hard in opposite directions, hell-bent on mutual destruction. (At one time I believed that the Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility. Seemed like a sound principle but apparently obsolete.)
With due respect, I recognize that you offer possibilities for the Republican party to return to the center. But this is speculative, at best a hope. Are there facts to support it? Today, what are the party’s core principles? And how are those core principles being defended? I really don’t mean to be negative because I commend you for your substantive positions and I do believe that we need a reasonable, conservative party. I am just deeply, deeply concerned.
Robert, what are the Republican Party’s core principles? To be re-elected, nothing more, nothing less. Prime example is is the latest tax cut which will add astronomically to the national debt. (A touch of irony is that Bill Clinton is the last President to balance the budget.) That is a bit of pandering exceeded only by Donal Trump’s sycophancy with Vladimir Putin. My first vote for President was Barry Goldwater, followed by Richard Nixon twice, Ronald Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole and George W. Bush. However, I haven’t voted for a Republican for federal office since 2004. I always have considered myself a moderate. Sad that I no longer am wanted by my former party.
Well stated Sandy. I share your assessment of the GOP under the mad hatter but am at a loss to understand why he is so popular among Republican voters. Have the 70 percenters lost their minds? Clearly their representatives in Congress have lost their spines.
The changing demographics of our country do not bode well for extremism on either end of the political spectrum. But if he were alive, Teddy Roosevelt would almost certainly be a Democrat. Realistically I think theirs is the only tent that is big enough to accommodate moderates, period. And I think the never Trump Republicans could play a major role within the Democratic Party. I think it was Will Rogers who once quipped, “I don’t belong to any party, I’m a Democrat.”
Thanks so much for a breath of fresh air.
Sandy – thank you for your Guest Blog. It’s time for Democrats and Republicans alike to come together in the name of moderation, civility, and humanity. I just hope that the damage Trump does isn’t as irrevocable as it currently seems it will be. We certainly will have our work cut out for us.
Right on, Carolyn…although I despair.
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