November 9, 1966

GOP Leapfrog

The most significant thing about last week’s elections is that the Republican Party is beginning to make a move in the centuries-old U.S. game of political leap frog.

Historically, the major political parties reverse their philosophies periodically. The mayoralty victories of John Ballard in Akron, and John Lindsey in New York - personable Republicans in Democratic strongholds - indicate that a major realignment is underway in both parties.

The progressive moderates of all political persuasions are weary of ideological extremes. I believe they are ready to assert themselves, without benefit of party labels if provoked.

The Johnson Democrats have taken us far down the road to state socialism, and the Goldwater Republicans give the impression they would seriously slow social progress. The American mood is somewhere in the middle.

Ballard and Lindsey - running on liberal platforms with little APPARENT party support -demonstrated that the previous victories of Gov. George Romney in Michigan and Gov. Harold Scranton in Pennsylvania were not flukes.

* * *

Winning Republicans today carefully avoid strong identification with the party because the party “image” is an extreme one.

There are signs that the minority groups Franklin Roosevelt welded into the modern Democrat party also are becoming disenchanted over the struggle within its ranks between Big Business and Big Socialists.

Negroes already have started to defect - witness Carl Stokes’ strong showing in Cleveland - and union members are becoming restless. They are discovering that once you’ve sold your soul, you’ve lost your bargaining power.

Though Ballard and Lindsey soft pedaled their party affiliation, it was Republican money and Republican organization that turned the most furrows. They - along with Romney and Scranton - are handsome, intelligent and ambitious men. You can bet your bottom dollar they have not kicked over the party traces. Party organization is still the surest road to political office.

The new breed of Republicans is classified “liberal” by party members -- but “conservative” by Dem standards.

Whatever the tag, Ballard, Lindsey, et al are not repudiating the Republican Party, but only the current image. Actually, they are leading the party back to its original philosophy left behind several leapfrog jumps ago.

* * *

The technique of changing party labels to suit changing political tastes is as old as this nation. Political parties, or clubs, began the year following ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1789.

The first party was the Federalist, led by Alexander Hamilton, and it advocated centralized government with strong fiscal policies. George Washington and John Adams were the only Federalists elected president.

The Democratic-Republican Party started in 1791 and was led by Thomas Jefferson. Proponents believed government should be responsive to popular majorities, the Constitution should be strictly interpreted, states’ rights should be protected, and personal freedom from government control encouraged.

By Andrew Jackson’s election in 1828, the Democratic-Republican and Federalist philosophies had become inflexible.

Then the first of many leapfrog maneuvers occurred. Jackson signaled his leanings by dropping the “Republican” portion of his party’s name. Disgruntled Federalists put up a National Republican candidate and the original party passed into oblivion.

* * *

Since those days, the parties have undergone numerous reorganizations to accommodate the political winds. Following defeat of the National Republican candidate, dissident Democrats formed the Whig party and elected three presidents.

At one time the Dems called themselves the Democratic-Populist party to capitalize on the popularity of free silver and easy credit -- only to reverse their field later as Gold Democrats.

The Free Soil, North American (Know-Nothing), and Abolitionist parties were minor political voices until they were joined by moderate Democrats -- at a Michigan cornfield in 1854 -- to form the present Republican Party.

It is interesting to note that at the convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, half the delegates were former Democrats. When Lincoln ran for his second term, he called himself a Union party member while his opponents ran on Democratic, and “Republican” tickets.

The Republican Party began as the champion of the skilled laborer, merchant, farmer and professional man.

It was “The People’s Party” that advocated the “full dinner pail.” Republicans were against the Democratic policies favoring large property and financial interests which depended on free slave labor. “Urban expansion” and “civil rights” were GOP special fields of endeavor.

After the Civil War, the Democrats were in roughly the same position as the Republicans today - breathing, but only barely.

Republicans grew conservative under McKinley, changed to liberal under Theodore Roosevelt, and lapsed back to conservative under Hoover.

Franklin Roosevelt capitalized on the Republican’s bad luck to be in office when a great world economic depression struck. He put the Democrats back on the liberal road, which has generally been the high road to the White House.

Republicans have had enough of “right” and “truth” and “principles." “It’s time to win a few elections and stay alive,” they say. “We’ll worry about fundamentals if and when we get elected.”

* * *

The trend is clearly discernable. In Summit County, Republicans took four of the five partisan city races ( Akron, Cuyahoga Falls, Stow and Tallmadge) and came close in the fifth one ( Barberton.)

In Cleveland, the suburbs elected many Republicans; and defecting Negroes and union members badly scared Democratic Mayor Locher.

Oh, it’s not a landslide - probably won’t turn into one. However, the Democrats are caught between the incompatible demands of Americans for Democratic Action and of big industry typified by Henry Ford.

Special interest groups have a way of switching loyalties when their share of the gravy dwindles. Those who do not identify with the welfare state or the military defense establishment will turn to the Republican party if it offers rewards, as a few leaders now promise.

Otherwise, a third party demand will develop. It’s happened several times before. Conditions are ripe for another.

By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist