Abraham, Theodore & Me

I caught Senator John McCain on CNN this evening. He was speaking to a Republican party gathering, and a part of his theme was that the party needs to return to its ideological and historical roots. He specifically mentioned that the Republicans are the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.

Initially, I was peeved, I confess. Lincoln and TR are my two heroes. (Perhaps in another post, I'll bemoan the absence of heroes in modern life, particularly among young people.) It seemed cheeky for Sen. McCain to invoke them when VERY few people in the Republican party would support either of them today. But Sen. McCain is certainly on the left of the Republican hard core, and has earned the right to invoke heroes.

In any event, it won't work. The Republican party will cite Lincoln and TR with the same ideological purity that made Rasputin cite Jesus Christ. Any similarity between the modern party and its historical roots is strictly coincidental. No modern Republican will advance civil rights as strongly and as seriously as Lincoln. No modern Republican will intervene against corporate behemoths, like TR did in the 1902 national anthracite coal strike. Surely, no Republican will protect 230,000,000 acres of natural American like TR did: 150 National Forests, 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 4 National Game Preserves, 5 National Parks and 18 National Monuments.

The Democratic party glosses over its own historical roots, too. We have "Jefferson-Jackson Day" dinners, and ignore the inconsistencies between Jefferson's words and actions, and ignore the jingoism of Jackson.

The modern Republican party is the party of William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, Warren G. Harding, Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan and the Bushes - some poor presidents, some good, maybe even a great one lurking there. It's not the party of Lincoln or Theodore Roosevelt.

Modern political parties need to stand for what they believe NOW.

Mizpah.

Roger