What Happened to the Republican Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater & Reagan?

If Abraham Lincoln were alive today it is likely he'd keel over in a dead feint upon learning what the Republican Party has become 150 years after his tragic demise via a bullet  fired by a reactionary Southern fanatic.

Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower would also likely be appalled.

Republican William McKinley, thought to be a conservative Republican in his day, would  likely be appalled at the behavior of those considered to be conservative Republicans in 2015.

In 1898 McKinley was dragged, reluctantly, into war with Spain, over Cuba.

When the Spanish American War was so easily won, with the United States taking possession of Puerto Rico and the Phillippines, President McKinley did not crow about "Mission Accomplished" aboard an American battle ship, even though, in that war, the mission was actually accomplished.

When Barry Goldwater became the first conservative presidential nominee for the Republicans since Calvin Coolidge, Barry Goldwater was thought to be, by many, far too right wing conservative to be president. As the years passed after his smashing defeat by LBJ, Goldwater seemed to become a much more reasonable Republican.

I suspect Barry Goldwater would be appalled by what passes for conservative Republicans in 2015. Be it Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson or any of the other Republican embarrassments currently seeking to be the next American president.

Like Donald Trump.

If Barry Goldwater were alive today would he agree to go on the Rush Limbaugh Show? I don't think Barry Goldwater would be able to restrain himself from reacting to some of Limbaugh's nonsense.

What if Ronald Reagan was still alive and firing on all cylinders? Reagan always seemed to be a decent, nice guy. He worked with the Democrats to find common ground. Reagan and House Leader, Democrat Tip O'Neill, had a cordial relationship, trying to do what the two thought was best for America.

I found the two memes you see above, on Facebook, both from the good people at NOTEAPARTY / AGAINST TEAPARTY. I thought the No Tea Party / Against the Tea Party people summed up the current Republican situation quite succinctly....

May 13, 1971 Nixon Conversation About Same Sex Marriage & Archie Bunker

That is a screen cap of a YouTubed Nixon tape. This tape not audio of a Watergate related conversation. This Nixon tape is about Archie Bunker and Nixon's fears regarding the future calamity facing America from those who find themselves attracted to their own gender.

YouTube has been suggesting Nixon tapes to me ever since I listened to the infamous Smoking Gun tape and the equally infamous Cancer on the Presidency tape.

For those who don't remember the Watergate Scandal, the Smoking Gun tape is the one that brought about Nixon's resignation. The Cancer on the Presidency tape is the one where it was learned John Dean was telling the truth, Nixon did approve of paying hush money.

On the Nixon tape, which you can listen to below, you will hear Nixon talking to H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, his two chief henchmen, about something he watched on TV which had him appalled.

An episode of All in the Family.

Nixon is very funny in this video. Not intentionally so, but very funny. Some of the things that come out of his mouth, well, it's the type stuff one would not think one would hear in today's White House. Or even in George W. Bush's White House. Or Bill Clinton's. Or Jimmy Carter's. Make note I left out George H.W. Bush and Reagan and Ford.

Times have changed. A lot.

Below is the video and below that is the first comment about the video on the YouTube website. I thought it was a good comment.



Well, the USA is certainly very different 44 years later. And homosexuality is all over mainstream media and television, a former male Olympic athlete graced the cover as a woman after becoming transgender, and even the White House is covered in rainbow colors.

Though at the same time, things are so much worse. The USA economy is built like a house of cards and nearly all wealth that was in the middle class has been systematically transferred to the elite. All jobs have been shipped off to countries like China, and foreigners are brought in on temporary H-1B visas to work the same job as Americans, but at much lower wages.

Well - USA, you had a good run, but it's over. The empire didn't last very long, hopefully the next superpower (China) does a better (and more peaceful) job. It would be hard to top the US, so regardless I think better times are in store for the world.

As for USA -- where do you go from here? I think the film "Idiocracy" is a good look into the future, albeit highly exaggerated.