PROOF OF THE GOP's EXTREME FAR-RIGHT DRIFT (PART III)!

This is my concluding segment proving the Republican Party's rightward drift is no illusion. I again present the abridged 1960 Republin Party platform as evidence. As in the previous two segments, my occasional comments will appear in bold italic, like this.

Housing
...Continued effort to clear slums, and promote rebuilding, rehabilitation, and conservation of our cities.
New programs to stimulate development of specialized types of housing, such as those for the elderly and for nursing homes...
Adequate authority for the federal housing agencies to assist the flow of mortgage credit into private housing, with emphasis on homes for middle- and lower-income families and including assistance in urban residential areas... Modern conservative Republicans would call these desires "socialism" and would dismiss them as unneeded government interference in the "free market".

Health
There has been a five-fold increase in government-assisted medical research during the last six years, We pledge:
Continued federal support for a sound research program aimed at both the prevention and cure of diseases, and intensified efforts to secure prompt and effective application of the results of research. This will include emphasis on mental illness.
Support of international health research programs.
We face serious personnel shortages in the health and medical fields. We pledge:
Federal help in new programs to build schools of medicine, dentistry, and public health and nursing, and financial aid to students in those fields. Today's GOP would take a very dim view of either federal help or of financial aid. After extending more tax cuts to billionaires, they would claim any more federal involvement in these areas of health to be a contributor to our deficit, and would shelve them altogether.
We are confronted with major problems in the field of environmental health. We pledge:
Strengthened federal enforcement powers in combatting water pollution and additional resources for research and demonstration projects...
Federal authority to identify, after appropriate hearings, air pollution problems and to recommend proposed solutions... Republicans of today, who hate environmentalists and ridicule them, would never support actions like these.

Protection of Consumers
In safeguarding the health of the nation the Eisenhower-Nixon Administration's initiative has resulted in doubling the resources of the Food and Drug Administration and in giving it new legal weapons. More progress has been made during this period in protecting consumers against harmful food, drugs, and cosmetics than in any other time in our history. We will continue to give strong support to this consumer-protection program. Current conservative Republicans would outright reject the notion of strict federal regulations, or they would appoint friends of each industry to a regulatory board to ensure that industry's wants and needs, and NOT those of consumers, would be taken care of!

Civil Rights
This nation was created to give expression, validity and purpose to our spiritual heritage—the supreme worth of the individual. In such a nation—a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal—racial discrimination has no place. Except, as teabagger Rand Paul insists, in the case of PRIVATE businesses, which he believes ought to be able to set their own standards without government interference. It can hardly be reconciled with a Constitution that guarantees equal protection under law to all persons. In a deeper sense, too, it is immoral and unjust. To today's conservative Republican and teabagger, there is no morality or justice except protecting one's right to acquire as much wealth as possible free from government interference.
As to those matters within reach of political action and leadership, we pledge ourselves unreservedly to its eradication.
Equality under law promises more than the equal right to vote and transcends mere relief from discrimination by government. It becomes a reality only when all persons have equal opportunity, without distinction of race, religion, color or national origin, to acquire the essentials of life—housing, education and employment. The Republican Party—the party of Abraham Lincoln—from its very beginning has striven to make this promise a reality. It is today, as it was then, unequivocally dedicated to making the greatest amount of progress toward the objective. Nearly all persons of color would disagree that this is much of a priority for the modern-day GOP. Nor is discrimination confined to the discrimination against Negroes. Discrimination in many, if not all, areas of the country on the basis of creed or national origin is equally insidious...
The Republican Party is proud of the civil rights record of the Eisenhower Administration. More progress has been made during the past eight years than in the preceding 80 years. We acted promptly to end discrimination in our nation's capital. Vigorous executive action was taken to complete swiftly the desegregation of the armed forces, veterans' hospitals, navy yards, and other federal establishments.
We supported the position of the Negro school children before the Supreme Court. We believe the Supreme Court school decision should be carried out in accordance with the mandate of the Court.
...the Republican Administration's recommendations resulted in significant and effective civil rights legislation in both 1957 and 1960—the first civil rights statutes to be passed in more than 80 years.
Hundreds of Negroes have already been registered to vote as a result of Department of Justice action, some in counties where Negroes did not vote before. The new law will soon make it possible for thousands and thousands of Negroes previously disenfranchised to vote. Persons of color would strongly disagree that the modern Republican shares this view, and would point to Jeb Bush's closing of roads leading to polling booths in Florida in 2000, and the transfer of a large number of inner city polling machines away to suburban locations in Ohio as evidence to the contrary. And, as far as their current stand on civil rights goes, look at the anti-Obama signs we have been seeing at teabagger rallies, with the President having a bone through his nose, and dressed as a black Hitler!
By executive order, a committee for the elimination of discrimination in government employment has been reestablished with broadened authority. Today, nearly one-fourth of all federal employees are Negro.
The President's Committee on Government Contracts, under the chairmanship of Vice President Nixon, has become an impressive force for the elimination of discriminatory employment practices of private companies that do business with the government. The Rand Paul/Libertarian clique would oppose this today and call it social engineering or interference by the government in the affairs of private industry.
Other important achievements include initial steps toward the elimination of segregation in federally-aided housing; the establishment of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, which enforces federal civil rights laws; and the appointment of the bi-partisan Civil Rights Commission, which has prepared a significant report that lays the groundwork for further legislative action and progress.
The Republican record is a record of progress—not merely promises. Nevertheless, we recognize that much remains to be done... They have reduced their focus in this area significantly.

Each of the following pledges is practical and within realistic reach of accomplishment. They are serious—not cynical—pledges made to result in maximum progress.

1. Voting.
We pledge:
Continued vigorous enforcement of the civil rights laws to guarantee the right to vote to all citizens in all areas of the country.

Legislation to provide that the completion of six primary grades in a state accredited school is conclusive evidence of literacy for voting purposes.

2. Public Schools.
We pledge:
The Department of Justice will continue its vigorous support of court orders for school desegregation. Desegregation suits now pending involve at least 39 school districts. Those suits and others already concluded will affect most major cities in which school segregation is being practiced.

It will use the new authority provided by the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to prevent obstruction of court orders.

We will propose legislation to authorize the Attorney General to bring actions for school desegregation in the name of the United States in appropriate cases, as when economic coercion or threat of physical harm is used to deter persons from going to court to establish their rights.

Our continuing support of the President's proposal, to extend federal aid and technical assistance to schools which in good faith attempted to desegregate.

We oppose the pretense of fixing a target date 3 years from now for the mere submission of plans for school desegregation. Slow-moving school districts would construe it as a three-year moratorium during which progress would cease, postponing until 1963 the legal process to enforce compliance. We believe that each of the pending court actions should proceed as the Supreme Court has directed and that in no district should there be any such delay.

3. Employment.
We pledge:
Continued support for legislation to establish a Commission on Equal Job Opportunity to make permanent and to expand with legislative backing the excellent work being performed by the President's Committee on Government Contracts.
Appropriate legislation to end the discriminatory membership practices of some labor union locals, unless such practices are eradicated promptly by the labor unions themselves.
Use of the full-scale review of existing state laws, and of prior proposals for federal legislation, to eliminate discrimination in employment now being conducted by the Civil Rights Commission, for guidance in our objective of developing a Federal-State program in the employment area.
Special consideration of training programs aimed at developing the skills of those now working in marginal agricultural employment so that they can obtain employment in industry, notably in the new industries moving into the South.


4. Housing.
We pledge:
Action to prohibit discrimination in housing constructed with the aid of federal subsidies.


5. Public Facilities and Services.
We pledge:
Removal of any vestige of discrimination in the operation of federal facilities or procedures which may at any time be found.

Opposition to the use of federal funds for the construction of segregated community facilities.

Action to ensure that public transportation and other government authorized services shall be free from segregation. Much of this was cleared up or reduced with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

6. Legislative Procedure.
We pledge:
...We reaffirm the constitutional right to peaceable assembly to protest discrimination in private business establishments. We applaud the action of the businessmen who have abandoned discriminatory practices in retail establishments, and we urge others to follow their example. Such is no longer the case. Starting with Ronald Reagan, union-busting has become a rampage among Republican officeholders. They no longer support or will condone wildcat strikes or demonstrations in private industry.
Finally we recognize that civil rights is a responsibility not only of states and localities; it is a national problem and a national responsibility. The federal government should take the initiative in promoting inter-group conferences among those who, in their communities, are earnestly seeking solutions of the complex problems of desegregation—to the end that closed channels of communication may be opened, tensions eased, and a cooperative solution of local problems may be sought.

In summary, we pledge the full use of the power, resources and leadership of the federal government to eliminate discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin and to encourage understanding and good will among all races and creeds. This is no longer a priority for the modern conservative Republican, for rather than attempting to be INCLUSIVE, they have adopted a pattern of EXCLUSIVITY, particularly against blacks and immigrants.

Immigration
Immigration has historically been a great factor in the growth of the United States, not only in numbers but in the enrichment of ideas that immigrants have brought with them...
Immigration has been reduced to the point where it does not provide the stimulus to growth that it should, nor are we fulfilling our obligation as a haven for the oppressed. Republican conscience and Republican policy require that:
The annual number of immigrants we accept be at least doubled...
The guidelines of our immigration policy be based upon judgment of the individual merit of each applicant for admission and citizenship. Republicans have see-sawed back and forth on immigration for years. Today, they oppose illegal immigration, not because it represents a threat to lower-wage American workers, but because of the tax burden illegal immigration places on local and state governments. But during the Bush administration, illegals were viewed as a source of cheap labor that could be easily exported. They also used illegals to further weaken labor unions.


Conclusion
We have set forth the program of the Republican Party for the government of the United States. We have written a Party document, as is our duty, but we have tried to refrain from writing a merely partisan document. We have no wish to exaggerate differences between ourselves and the Democratic Party; ...The history and composition of the Republican Party make it the natural instrument for eradicating the injustice and discrimination in this country... That last statement is no longer true. Today's Republicans, under the banner of "free trade" encourage and support all forms of discrimination along economic lines. Starting with their capture of Congress in 1995, they have also begun a bitter partisan and uncooperative struggle with the Democratic Party which lasts to this very day. They have become demanding and uncompromising, and all facade of civility has been tossed out altogether...
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This platform was the mindset of the Republican Party a mere 51 years ago, before Vietnam, Watergate, Ronald Reagan, 9/11, pre-emptive military strikes, the Bush Doctrine. non-bid military contracts to large campaign donors, or wildly out of control deficit spending had infected and perverted the party. In those days, they properly referred to their opponents as the "Democratic Party", not the disrepectful and ignoramtly-phrased "Democrat Party" we hear so many of them use today. They also believed the federal government must play a regulatory role over business and industry; that labor unions had and deserved a spot in the national economy; and that taxes were an accepted way of raising revenue for the expenses of government.

Speaking of taxes, it is curious to note that they did not even devote one single topic heading to the issue of taxation, even though AT THAT TIME THE MARGINAL RATE FOR THE HIGHEST INCOMES STOOD AT A WHOPPING 91%!!! Republicans of that day, most of them anyway, recognized the paying of taxes as a responsible civic duty, and they didn't scream for mercy and flee the paying of taxes as they do now, at a top marginal rate of ONLY 35%, A FULL 56 POINTS LOWER! Nor did they make any policy regarding Religion. For in those days, most Republicans didn't wear their religion on their sleeve and truly recognized and accepted its role as being kept separate from the affairs of state. Yesterday's Republican Party placed a much higher value on education than its counterpart of today, and they truly WERE fiscally responsible without favoring the wealthy to the exclusion of all else. They were also MUCH more tolerant, more honest, and less biting in their remarks against the opposition party than they are today. After the mistake of letting Joe McCarthy lead them down an extremist path of senseless witch hunts, they had regained a sense of reason and pragmatism sorely lacking in the modern-day version.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE THEY WILL SOON RETURN TO THEIR SENSES AND DISCARD THE REACTIONARY COURSE THEY HAVE BEEN INCREASINGLY FOLLOWING!


UP NEXT: GOD, AND JESUS, ARE LIBERALS!