10 Great Republicans
Tomorrow (well, technically later today since it’s just past midnight) is the “Rally to Restore Sanity” in my old home town, an event hoping to cool the boiling blood of the American body politic by drawing attention to the fact that – despite our differences of opinion – we’re all in this together and should maybe be a little nicer from time to time.
While I can’t attend in person, I can attend in spirit. With that in mind, here’s a tribute to the folks on the Right – the list of my Top 10 favorite Republicans:
10: Senator John McCain – Despite his rough showing over the past few years, the vast majority of McCain’s adult life has been heroic, principled and generally pretty great. I campaigned (and voted) for him in the 2000 GOP primary when, in my humble opinion, he was at the apex of his stature as a politician of character and conviction.
9: Senator Bob Dole – I campaigned for Clinton in ’96, but had a hard time mustering much gusto when it came to actively opposing Dole. To quote Bill Maher (who voted for Dole in ’96):
War is the great divider among men. I mean, you have been to war or you haven’t, and if you haven’t you just do not, I think, have the same mettle, and also, you haven’t given the ultimate sacrifice for your country. I do think if you are a war hero and you’re running, all things being otherwise fairly equal, that guy is going to get my vote.
Unlike Maher, I did not consider Dole to be the equal of Clinton when it came to policy, but his credentials as a man of courage and a leader people can proudly follow are beyond question. Bonus points: Much of the health care reform that recently passed was inspired by Dole’s proposals in the mid-1990s.
8: Wendell Willkie – Willkie’s main claim to fame was winning the 1940 Republican nomination for President. He went on to get pasted by FDR, but was sufficiently well-liked by his opponent that he was asked to join the Roosevelt Administration and in 1941 became the President’s personal diplomatic representative, traveling to Britain, China and the USSR regularly. He was a tireless advocate of Civil Rights and a major opponent of racism both institutionally and culturally. He criticized both Democrats and Republicans for failing to deal with issues of race and sought to convince Hollywood to stop portraying African Americans in offensive, racist fashions. He equated racism with fascism thusly:
The desire to deprive some of our citizens of their rights — economic, civic or political — has the same basic motivation as actuates the Fascist mind when it seeks to dominate whole peoples and nations. It is essential that we eliminate it at home as well as abroad.
7: Senator Jacob Javits – Offended by the utter corruption of the Democratic establishment in New York City, Javits was a lifelong Republican who nevertheless was loathe to reflexively support any policy out of party loyalty. Among his significant achievements were:
- Lifelong support for and outspoken advocacy of Civil Rights, beginning in his first Senate term with the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
- Sponsored the first African American Congressional page in 1965 and the first female page in 1971.
- Creation of the National Endowment for the Arts.
- Passage of the War Powers Act.
- On behalf of President Jimmy Carter, he traveled to the Middle East to lead discussions that eventually led to the 1978 Camp David Agreement between Egypt and Israel.
6: General Colin Powell – While his political role in recent years has been troubled in many ways, Powell has remained a clear, considerate and reasonable voice in American conservative politics. Some highlights:
- The “Powell Doctrine” – a significant statement of foreign policy ideology. In short:Force is warranted ONLY when political, economic, and diplomatic means of addressing conflict have been exhausted. Before force can be used, each of the following must be answered in the affirmative:
1 – Is a vital national security interest threatened?
2 – Do we have a clear attainable objective?
3 – Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
4 – Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
5 – Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
6 – Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
7 – Is the action supported by the American people?
8 – Do we have genuine broad international support?The Powell Doctrine was paid lip-service during his time in the Bush Administration, but was never truly or honestly implemented. In the years that have followed, a general consensus has emerged that early war efforts were woefully underpowered, goals were poorly defined, exit strategies were non-existent and international support was EXTREMELY limited – thus leading to the protracted and awkward situations that persist even today.
- Despite his role in implementing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in the 1990s, Powell is a vocal supporter of its repeal now.
- He favors “reasonable” gun control while also recognizing the importance of protecting the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans.
- He recognizes the value of Affirmative Action.
- He opposes military tribunals for so-called “enemy combatants” and supports strict adherence to the Geneva Conventions.
5: Vice President Nelson Rockefeller – A pragmatist when it came to policy, Rockefeller spent much of his career making things hard for himself by doing what he thought was right instead of what his party told him to do. He was the heart of moderate Republican politics for more three decades, lending his name to the so-called “Rockefeller Republican” wing of his party. Many of the domestic components of Richard Nixon’s platforms that weren’t horrifying were the direct result of Rockefeller’s influence and advice.
4: Chief Justice Earl Warren – Earl Warren has the unique distinction of being a politician SO beloved that he was both the Republican AND Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1946 (though he only ran as a Republican). Appointed by President Eisenhower, Warren’s time on the Supreme Court saw him initially serving as the lone conservative voice on a Court made up entirely of New Deal liberals appointed by FDR and Truman who were nevertheless deeply divided most of the time. Eventually, Warren became a consensus builder and presided over a large number of landmark cases:
- Brown vs. Board of Education – Banning the segregation of public schools.
- Gideon vs. Wainwright – Guaranteeing the right to legal counsel.
- Miranda vs. Arizona – Requiring that anyone interrogated by law enforcement be clearly notified of their rights, including legal counsel.
- Engel vs. Vitale – Outlawing required prayer in public schools.
- Griswold v. Connecticut – Establishing the Constitutional protection of the Right to Privacy.
3: President Theodore Roosevelt – War hero, Indiana Jones-esque adventurer, scourge of giant large-toothed beasties, bullet-proof monster speaker. Teddy Roosevelt is – unquestionably – our most BAD-ASS President, but his policy achievements and ideas were no slouch either:
- He was a trust-busting machine, punching corrupt corporations in the face with strong regulation and bringing an end to large-scale collusion and abuse.
- His “square deal” ideology helped him to bring mutually beneficial ends to conflicts like the 1902 coal miner’s strike.
- He was an environmental superhero, bringing the importance of conservation to the forefront of American politics.
- He was the first American to win a Nobel prize when he was awarded the Peace Prize in 1906 for his efforts to bring an end to the Russo-Japanese War.
- He passed the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 and the Pure Food and Drug Act, providing Americans with protections against meat that was mislabeled or mixed with harmful chemicals and from impure or falsely labeled drugs, respectively.
2: President Abraham Lincoln – His credentials need no repeating.
1: President Dwight Eisenhower – Ike is unique in that his service as President is LESS significant than his earlier career. After all, just leading America IS kind of a step down from leading ALL OF THE GOOD GUYS ON EARTH. Nevertheless, it’s his life as a politician that puts him at the top of my list.
Beyond his obvious significance in WWII, Eisenhower was the kind of politician that normally only appeared in Jimmy Stewart films:
- He sought the Presidency only after he was drafted into doing so by a massive grass-roots movement and even then he ran with some reluctance.
- He proposed and signed into law the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and aggressively fought racism in the United States (cleverly referring to it as a “national security issue” to woo conservatives who opposed desegregation).
- He opposed domestic witch hunts for Communists and instead believed that diplomacy and strong alliances were the best way to curtail Soviet and Chinese influence.
- He extended Social Security coverage to millions.
- He championed the Interstate Highway System.
Beyond that, he – unique among modern Presidents – truly seemed concerned about the dangers that America’s new role as the leading free nation on earth would present. He showed deep trepidation about the amoral juggernaut that American industry had become in the years after the war – expanding for the sake of expansion, consuming recklessly both the material and intellectual resources of the nation for the sole pursuit of National Strength. In his famous farewell address he warned with chilling prescience about the risks post-war America would face:
We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence–economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
…
As we peer into society’s future, we–you and I, and our government–must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.
And from a speech to American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1953:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this:
A modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement.
We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron…
Is there no other way the world may live?
Dwight Eisenhower tops my list because he was a man whose life was fully super-heroic. He could have lived out the last third of it with swaggering bravado and self-aggrandizing bluster, but instead conducted himself with humanity and humbleness.
And his highways are pretty sweet too.
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