My favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican. I think a secular federal republic is a pretty decent form of democratic governance. The “Radical Republican” wing of the antebellum Republican Party were the most ardent and vocal supporters of abolition in Congress.
Now the very word is tainted by association by these scumbags.
And Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive Republican that opposed trusts and the imbalanced influence of money in politics (but the changes began to happen during his time, which is why he left the party altogether). There was a time when “Republican” just referred to the kind of governmental structure one supported (just like “democrat”), with a range of economic and social views. That’s actually what the “grand” in Grand Old Party (GOP) referred to iirc—it was a party big enough handle a range views and ideas. AND, again iirc, the whole push for republican governmental ideas by said party was to find a way around the stranglehold of slavery in American economics. Representative government could make decisions that the populace might not support because it was the morally correct thing to do (which is also why the concept of electors was advanced by Hamilton, incidentally: as a safe-guard against tyranny—electors could look at an elected candidate and say “nah” because that person was actually likely to work against the interests of the United States).
What a sad and absurd irony of history.
My favorite president, Abraham Lincoln, was a Republican. I think a secular federal republic is a pretty decent form of democratic governance. The “Radical Republican” wing of the antebellum Republican Party were the most ardent and vocal supporters of abolition in Congress.
Now the very word is tainted by association by these scumbags.
And Teddy Roosevelt was a progressive Republican that opposed trusts and the imbalanced influence of money in politics (but the changes began to happen during his time, which is why he left the party altogether). There was a time when “Republican” just referred to the kind of governmental structure one supported (just like “democrat”), with a range of economic and social views. That’s actually what the “grand” in Grand Old Party (GOP) referred to iirc—it was a party big enough handle a range views and ideas. AND, again iirc, the whole push for republican governmental ideas by said party was to find a way around the stranglehold of slavery in American economics. Representative government could make decisions that the populace might not support because it was the morally correct thing to do (which is also why the concept of electors was advanced by Hamilton, incidentally: as a safe-guard against tyranny—electors could look at an elected candidate and say “nah” because that person was actually likely to work against the interests of the United States).
How the mighty have fallen.