From: eisimps@cie.uoregon.edu (Eileen Simpson)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.elections
Subject: Re: Dear Republicans
Summary: Mainstream Movement
Date: 8 Nov 92 05:13:19 GMT
Organization: University of Oregon Campus Information Exchange

Mainstream.  By Jeff Osanka, PhD.  Reprinted with permission.  First
published in October, 1992.

Send e-mail regarding additional information to this address.

"The November election is less than 4 weeks away and the tenor of the
campaign is the most negative in recent memory.  It is telling that
comparisons are already being made to the 1884 Presidential election
between Blaine and Cleveland, long regarded as the most vicious campaign in
American history.

Many Republicans throughout the country are appalled by the direction of
the current campaign an the seemingly boundless cynicism of party leaders.
A grave danger to the party, and to the country, is that these mainstream
Republicans may cede the field of battle to the extremists by leaving the
Republican Party.

At the moment, mainstream Republicans are on the hottest of hot seats.
They were stunned by the hateful words of Pat Buchanan at the Republican
National Convention as he spoke of a "religious war...for the soul of
America."  They are mortified by the radical thrust of the Republican
National Platform.

Based on the rhetoric of the convention many Americans are concluding taht
all Republicans are extremists.  This creates a duty for traditional
conservative and moderate Republicans; a duty to speak out.  To remain
silent in the light of these tactics is to invite a level of public disgust
that will cripple the Republican Party for decades to come.

The battle for the soul of the Republican Party is already underway.  The
current campaign emphasizing the politics of division is being deliberately
promoted by zealots who wish to drive mainstream Republicans out of the
party.

In Oregon, mainstream Republicans have a unique perspective.  The
presumptive situation posed in this article is already stark reality here.
The radical Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA) has taken over the Republican
Party apparatus in many Oregon counties and is poised to out the mainstream
Republican leadership statewide.  They see the Republican National Platform
almost as holy writ, and they use it to catechize mainstream Republicans
saying: "Embrace the platform, word for word, or leave the Party."  Many
long-time Republicans, sick at heart with a Party that has deserted them,
are taking the latter approach.

As Mainstream Republicans falter, extremists can take over.  To gain
political poser and contributions the OCA is sponsoring a pernicious abuse
of the "Referendum and Initiative" process.  For the first time in American
history, voters in a state are being asked to take existing rights away
from a particular group of Americans; in this case homosexuals.

The OCA's actions are representative of a national problem for mainstream
Republicans.  Recognizing this, Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition
recently sent the OCA a check for $20,000 and a promise to solicit more.
Robertson and his allies realize that a win in progressive, middle-class
Oregon will encourage the passage of similar legislation throughout the
nation.  Mainstream Republicans in Oregon never dreamed that legislated
intolerance might some day be attAched to the Republican label.  Voters in
other states can look forward to similar events if mainstream Republicans
continue to allow the extremists to take over.

The OCA and allies like the Christian Coalition want to take over the
Republican Party in Oregon band the nation in order to legitimize their
messages of anti-homsexuality and anti-women's rights.  They believe that
by speaking as the official voice of the Republican Party they can compel
individual Republicans to agree with them or leave the Party.  They are
willing to be the big fish in a smaller pool, winning fewer and fewer
elections, as long as it is *their* pool.

In 1988, the Republican Party fooled around with Willie Horton and produced
the candidacy of David Duke.  This time the Party is playing withreligious
fire and Republicans will again get burned.

Mainstream Republicans are justifiably tempted in the face of such zealotry
to fold up their tents and to slip slowly into the good night.  However, as
Americans concerned about traditional values such as liberty, equality, and
fairness they have a special duty to stay in the Party and bring it into
the 20th century before we enter the 21st Century.

End Part One.  Part two will follow the next time I get a block of time to
post.
 
Newsgroups: alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.elections