The GOP

It has been said that true courage is doing what is right rather than doing what is popular. This healthcare debate has help to elevate this saying. The following are a list of heroes displayed on the Republican National Committee (RNC's) website retrieved from www.rnc.org on Sunday March 21, 2010.

Abraham Lincoln said "The Republican party, on the contrary [to the Democrats], holds that this government was instituted to secure the blessings of freedom, and that slavery is an unqualified evil... [Republicans] will oppose in all its length and breadth the modern Democratic idea that slavery is a good as freedom." Considered a founder of the Republican Party, Abraham Lincoln fought to insure that all Americans could enjoy the same opportunities afforded many others regardless of skin color and economic status. Wonder what he would say to today's Republican leaders as they appear content on continuing to block any forward movement toward evening the playing field for all to get the same kind of medical access that those more influential have.

Jack Kemp says that" imagine how much richer our nation would be when every single child is able to grow up and reach for his or her God given potential. I believe the ultimate imperative for growth and opportunity is to advance human dignity." Another hero of the Republican Party who spoke of America as one nation and one people. Wonder what he would say about today's Republican leaders as they cut the funding to healthcare for children, block children being able to stay on parents insurance until age 26, shrinking of the "out-of-pocket" cost to seniors and outlawing limits imposed by the insurance companies.

Theodore Roosevelt's domestic achievements in his nearly eight years in office include the establishment of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the crafting of legislation outlawing monopolistic business practices. This was done for the protection of the American public. Wonder what he would say about today's Republican leaders as they push for less regulations on monopolistic business practices or refusing to heed the public outcry and aid in the re-establishment for "common sense" regulations to prevent a possible re-occurring of the near disaster actions caused by de-regulation.

Calvin Coolidge, a proud conservative, he battled tirelessly against deficit spending and price fixing and for free enterprise, famously declaring that "the chief business of the American people is business." Wonder what he would say about today's Republican leaders as they refuse to ignore the CBO's estimate of deficit reduction and elects to fight this deficit reduction with their every being.

Dwight Eisenhower, the day after the Brown v. Board of Education decision, ordered public schools in Washington, D.C. desegregated immediately, not waiting for judges to make "all deliberate speed." Because he knew that equal rights and opportunity could not wait any longer. He knew that those who suffer had suffered long enough. Wonder what he would say about today's Republican leaders as they refuse to move on the chance to relieve the suffering of millions of Americans and ignoring that those who suffer have suffered long enough.

Judge Frank Johnson ruled in favor of Rosa Parks, striking down the "blacks in the back of the bus" law. In 1965, it was Judge Johnson who struck down attempts by Alabama's Democrat governor to block the Selma voting rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr. He did that because he knew that it was the right thing to do even if it was not the most popular. Wonder what he would say about today's Republican leaders as they stick with their party and seem to support the insurance companies instead of having the guts to do what's right for this country as a whole.

In the words of Mary Terrell: "Every right that has been bestowed upon blacks was initiated by the Republican Party." Wonder what she would say about today's Republican leaders as they constantly speak about a "welfare state", or those that they are claiming to speak for spitting on other human beings and calling them "nigger".

This leaves me with one question. Would these same people be willing to call themselves Republicans? Would Mary Terrell, Ida Wells, Fredrick Douglas and Jackie Robinson think this is the party to belong to when those whose actions of using the "N" word are yet to be condemn by those leaders in the Republican Party. Yes, the Republican Party did do much for the relief of suffering for slaves and women many years ago but as our neighbors are dying without insurance and the middle class is losing their homes, jobs and struggling mightily, what happened to the party of old.