March 12, 1975

They Shoot Horses Don't They?

They shoot horses, don't they, when those animals are blind and crippled?

One wonders if a mercy killing of the Republican elephant would not be a blessed relief for the distraught political party it represents.

Such foreboding thoughts persist after watching Republican leaders flounder last week in a Washington, D.C., conference intended to reconstruct a viable party.

At the end, matters were in even greater disarray - if such a condition is possible.

Mrs. Mary Louise Smith, GOP national chairman, attempted to start the conference on a high note with a quote from Shakespeare: "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.  On such a sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves or lose our venture."

Within an hour, however, the Republican leadership was entangled in the same kind of ideological battle that rages also in the Democratic party.  The big difference, of course, is that the Democrats can afford to lose a sizeable faction of discontented members and still remain the dominant political party.  A similar loss by the Republicans likely would spell doom.

If a warning was needed that the GOP had become a "minor party" - as contrasted with minority party - it was provided by a Market Opinion Research survey which revealed that only 18 percent of the electorate now consider themselves Republican.

This led Ray Bliss of Ohio, formerly chairman of the Republican National Committee and still a committeeman to advise Republican office seekers to deemphasize their party affiliation.  "You don't have to say ‘Republican' in all your ads," he said.

It is interesting that most of the Republican leaders felt the polarization of extremist elements within the party was a greater cause of voter disenchantment than Watergate.  Their gut feeling was reinforced by the principal speakers, all big guns in the Republican party.

Vice President Nelson Rockefeller told the participants that "everybody can't take the position that their solution is the only solution, and that they're not going to play if their solution is not adopted."

This was meant, obviously, to warn Republican conservatives of the consequences of a threatened bolt from the GOP and formation of a third party.

Undaunted, Ronald Reagan, former governor of California, asserted that the traditional Republican principles of private enterprise and individual achievement "can not be abandoned for the sake of mere numbers to win elections."

President Gerald Ford attempted to take the middle ground, which may be politically safe for his personal ambitions but did nothing to resolve the growing split between liberals and conservatives.

"To make sure that Republicans are really on the rise," he said, "we must make some practical changes in our political ways - not in principles, but in approach.

"As a starter, we must discard the attitude of exclusiveness that has kept the Republican party's door closed too often while we give speeches about keeping it open," the President stated.

In an unusual somber note for political rallies, Ford emphasized that the two-party system was in jeopardy and depended upon Republicans regaining strength.  He said the party must erect "a tent that is big enough" to shelter independent, blacks, young people under 22 and those too apathetic to vote as potential Republicans.

The president's approach, however, was not implemented at the conference then underway.  On the first day, a young black woman, presented a resolution calling for minority quota assignments to party posts.

On a poll of the conference members present the resolution passed 76-74.  But three of the yes votes cast by proxy were challenged, and the decision was reversed.  Thus, both the liberals and conservatives were offended and the split widened.

Sharpening the dilemma of the Republican National Party leadership are the increasing signs of defection by formerly staunch supporters.

Only the counsel of Senator Barry Goldwater kept a recent Conservative Caucus from seceding from the GOP to start a third party.  A slight nod at this time from him, or from Reagan, would launch a stampede.

Alabama Governor George Wallace is camped on the sidelines waiting for a political misstep that will provide an opening for him.

New Hampshire Governor Meldrim Thomson, a Republican, has announced he will support either Wallace or Reagan for president and signed 700,000 fund raising letters for the Conservative Caucus.

Congressman John Rarick of Louisiana, elected on the Democrat ticket, has formally switched his allegiance to Wallace's American Party.  It is possible that as such crossovers become socially acceptable a snowball will start rolling to crush Republicans.  Then, Shakespearian rhetoric and cosmetic tinkering with approaches will be too little too late.

The final effect is likely to be a new, second party REPLACING the GOP.  Historically, this is how the Republican Party superseded the Whigs little more than a century ago.

The American people are restless with the present political climate - a dangerous situation for a "minor party."

And too many voters are asking, "Is the Republican party worth saving?"

Author: Lindsey Williams