Evening star., 1950-08-06
Republican Advance
Gets Cold Reception
Writer Says 6. O. P. Needs
No Such Renovation
By Fronk R. Kent

Politically observant persons must
have noted that since the 1948 election,
every few months there arises new
Republican movement" sponsored by
more or less well-known, but very sell
dom potent. party figures. the avowed
purpose of which is to "rehabilitate and
reconstruct" the Republican Party along
modern lines
This performance has been repeated
so often as to have now reached the
stage where only the most incurably
credulous take it seriously. The most
recent of these movements" calls itself
"the Republican Advance" and is pro-
noted by New York attorney named
Henry Poor and Russell Davenport, once
briefly in the public eye as an adviser Of
the late Wendell Willkie. Before that it
was Gov. Driscoll of New Jersey
who called for a Republican recon
struction" And before him there was
a group which wanted to be to the Re-
publican Party what the so-called Amer
leans for Democratic Action are to the
Democratic Party-an odd ambition, to
say the least.
Every one of these movements diff
fers somewhat from the others. but
basically they are identical. Each Is
hotly denunciatory of the "Old Guard"
and vehemently insistent upon the
party gearing itself te the times" and
facing the future with a broader and
more attractive" appeal. Each makes
lavish use of the shopworn and mean
ingless adjectives liberal" progressive"
and constructive" They are all strong
on generalities and extremely foggy con-
cerning specific facts.
In two other respects these efforts for
Republican rehabilitation" are exactly
the same: Cd They seem to have an
equally unstable existence. Some stay
alive longer than others but soon or late
they shrivel and fall of the vine. (2)
Invariably they secure rather important
publicity for a short time. Certainly.
sure way for Republican to get pub
licity is to proclaim himself liberal"
and express discomfort with the re
dictionary party leadership" He does
not have to have a program. He does
not even have to have an idea. All he
has to do Is beat his breast and strike
the pose. At once. he is hailed by the
leftwing and advanced thinkers among
the columnists, commentators and press
agents They start in to make hero Of
him. From that time on he is referred
to in chorus as "the hard-hitting. clear
thinking Senator So-and-So." or the
liable and independent Representative
This That"
And though, unless completely stone
headed he must know that these
journalistic greaSers are unshakably
New Deal, Fair Deal and Welfare State
Democrats, it becomes the main purpose
of his life to have their commendation
continue One would think the intelli-
gent among. them would realize they
are behaving like political saps, lending
themselves to Democratic propaganda
about the desire of Republicans to re-
turn to the Harding and Mckinley
days"
leadership" is the cheapest kind of clap
trap. The Republicans did not lose the
last four elections because they were
reactionary. They lost two of them
because of the war and the other two
because, in a silly effort to outbid and
outpromise the Democrats. they gave
the voters no choice between liberalism
and conservatism. Twice there have
been two neglected issues upon which
there is strong reason to believe they
could have won. One of these is the evil
effect of an enormously expanded Fed
eral machine. the weight of which tends
to keep the administration in power
and the tremendous cost of which has
brought us close to economic chaos.
The other is the shameful subservience
of the Democratic administration to the
greedy labor bosses, whose reckless
waves of strikes have at times endan-
gered the economic life and health of the
Nation. With these two issues and the
right sort of candidate, the Republican
party can afford to disregard these
boresome movements" to renovate and
redecorate it.