Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1936-07-16
TWo
Platforms


AWO ventions sinks in,
Platforms certain very def
mite conclusions
cannot be avoided. In each in
stance, the two old political organi-
cations have moved into virgin
territory, entirely new fields.
In the case of the Republicans,
their Cleveland convention COM
pletely reorganized their party
leadership and placed the RESPONSE
bility in the hands of younger men,
casting onto the ash heap along
with the old guard leaders, many
of the old time conservative ideas.
In the case of the Democrats,
their Philadelphia convention vir-
tually created a new party. They
went further toward the radical
side than they have ever gone be-
fore. In no spirit of criticism, it
must be said that the Philadelphia
convention really gave birth to a
New Deal party, as such. The one
thing they kept was the Democrat
ic label.
The theme song of the Republi-
can platform was nodded out of
the fabric that is part and parcel
of the younger generation as dis
tinguished from the attitude given
birth and promoted and protected
by the Penroses, the Lodges, the
Shoots and others of that texture.
This is to say that the Republican
convention, for the first time in
many years, has moved it's cam
paign pronouncements out onto
something approximating NOR
al plan, or at least the evidence is
they have attempted to do so.
The Democrats, having had ten
days between the Republican com
vention and their own in which to
study the Republican document
and improve upon it, went consid-
erably beyond their opponents in
the language they used. They
have made an appeal to the vot-
ers of the nation that surely will
attract many thousands of voters
to the support of Mr.. Roosevelt.
On the other hand, the Philadel-
phia convention proceeded to cast
aside many traditions, many prin-
ciples, which old line Democrats,
who love the Jeffersonian theory,
regard as their political bible, and
they may antagonize that segment
of the old party by so doing.
To state the proposition in an
other way, many observers and po-
! litical analysts hold that while the
Democratic platform contains few
er contradictions than does the Re-
publican pronouncement and that,
on the whole, it is a much better
written platform, they have leaned
so far to the radical side that they
are leaving conservative Demo-
Gratis and old guard Republicans
only one place to go-to the Re-
| Publican candidate. This develops
because, in the first instance, the
| old guard Republicans obviously
cannot embrace Democratic plat
form which they regard as too lib
eral and they have no choice but
the Republicans. The conservative
Democrats will have the choice to
make. They can 60 to the New
Deal party or they can remain as
old line Democrats and swallow
their pride of party utilization long
enough to support the Republican,
Governor Landon.
One may look back over the do
ings at Philadelphia and recognize
:, that the meeting
OndeT was thoroughly
Orders controlled f r m
Washington. That
was natural because the party in
power obviously has all of the i'm
portant federal offices filled with
it's own men. The convention in
cluded among its delegates about
81 per cent of federal office holder
delegates.
That explains better than any
way / know how the 104-year-old
two-thirds rule was so easily abro-
gated. That rule has been a sore
spot in conventions for years. It
has many times been the direct
cause of bitter convention battles
and has bred scores of bitter per-
sonal animosities. 1t was none the
less interesting, however, to see
the Philadelphia delegates toss out
principles of the Democratic party
with such utter abandon.
am convinced that the Demo-
Gratis have not seen the end of the
two-thirds rule yet. There is every
indication that it will arise again
when the next quadrennial meeting
is held. There are plenty of Demo-
Gratis who believe that the require
ment of a vote of two-thirds of all
delegates shall be recorded for the
man selected as the party's Presi-
dental nominee is a protective
measure. But when the convention
voted out the two-thirds rule, it
took the Democratic party out of
the hands of the South.
It seems to me that the South
erners cannot be blamed for de-
string to maintain that two-thirds
rule. This is their position: through
all of the recent elections, the
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