1968: The Last Republican Platform: the Differences are Dramatic
Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart
I know that the Party of Lincoln, the Grand Old Party, or
simply the Republican Party no longer exists. Some of you may doubt my
allegation. However, let’s take a look at what I believe was the last, true
Republican Platform released prior to the 1968 election. Reagan is the reason
the GOP no longer exists today. He began its destruction, and Trump completed
its implosion.
As we compare Trump and his American Fascist Party, remember
that in 2025, the Republican Platform is a 922-page fascist manifesto, Project
2025.
I will not offer you the entirety of what became Richard
Nixon’s platform. I will only address the major points. You can read it in its
entirety on the attached source.
In the preamble, the DNC focused on America’s youth. They
stressed the accomplishments of two of their greatest presidents, Abraham
Lincoln and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Watching Eisenhower’s second convention is
the reason I became interested in politics.
DOMESTIC
POLICY
“We will create a new mix of private responsibility and
public participation in the solution of social problems.” Trump and his
administration are focused on destroying all social programs and pass the funds
onto 813 billionaires in the form of tax cuts.
They recognized the plight of Americans, especially
minorities, struggling to survive in our inner cities. Slums offered extremely
unhealthy and even dangerous conditions. “Minorities among us—particularly the
black community, the Mexican-American, the American Indian—suffer
disproportionately.” Not only does the Trump administration reject DEI, they
are involved in a form of ethnic cleansing today.
“Air and water pollution, already acute in many areas,
require vigorous state and federal action, regional planning, and maximum
cooperation among neighboring cities, counties and states.” All fake
Republicans today deny the existence of climate change caused by man.
They recognized the existence of a housing crisis. Few
working-class Americans could afford suitable and safe living quarters. No
Republican cares about this growing problem today.
CRIME
A few years ago, the FBI stated: “Domestic Terrorism is the
greatest danger to the American people in the 21st century.”
Republicans continue to ignore this growing problem and its cause: unrestricted
gun sales and purchases.
“Republicans believe that respect for the law is the
cornerstone of a free and well-ordered society. We pledge vigorous and
even-handed administration of justice and enforcement of the law.”
For the powerful and super-rich, the United States is a
lawless nation. Low-income and impoverished Americans are punished to the full
extent of the law.
EDUCATION
“The birthplace of American opportunity has been in the
classrooms of our schools and colleges. From early childhood through the
college years, American schools must offer programs of education sufficiently
flexible to meet the needs of all Americans—the advantaged, the average, the
disadvantaged and the handicapped alike.”
Republicans reject every effort to make higher education
available to all Americans. Trump is attacking and punishing our finest
colleges and universities who insist on providing the best education possible
for all races, ethnicities, their sex, and religions.
HUMAN
DEVELOPMENT
In 1968 Republicans recognized
the disadvantages of our nation’s poor and those in the low-income bracket.
“The inability of the poor to
cope meaningfully with their environment is compounded by problems which blunt
opportunity—inadequate income, inferior education, inadequate health care, slum
housing, limited job opportunities, discrimination, and crime.
“Full opportunity requires a
coordinated attack on the total problem through community human development
programs. Federal revenue sharing would help provide the resources to develop
such coordinated programs.”
JOBS
“To qualify for jobs with
permanence and promise, many disadvantaged citizens need special assistance and
job training. We will enact the Republican-proposed Human Investment Act,
offering tax credits to employers, to encourage such training and upgrading.”
Not only do today’s Republicans
reject the importance of education, they call well-educated Americans
“elitists,” fearing the truth.
THE
POOR
“Welfare and poverty programs
will be drastically revised to liberate the poor from the debilitating
dependence which erodes self-respect and discourages family unity and
responsibility. We will modify the rigid welfare requirements that stifle work
motivation and support locally operated children's day care centers to free the
parents to accept work.”
At this very moment, Trump is
ordering the kidnapping of homeless men and women in our nation’s Capital. He
plans to place them in his hastily constructed concentration camps and even in
federal prisons.
HEALTH
First: “Robert F. Kennedy jr.”
Add to this disaster, Trump’s “big, beautiful bill will remove healthcare from
as many as 60 million Americans. This was the Party of Lincoln in 1968.
“The inflation produced by the
Johnson-Humphrey Administration has struck hardest in the area of health care.
Hospital costs are rising 16 percent a year—four times the national average of
price increases.
“We pledge to encourage the
broadening of private health insurance plans, many of which cover hospital care
only, and to review the operation of government hospital care programs in order
to encourage more patients to utilize non-hospital facilities. Expansion of the
number of doctors, nurses, and supporting staff to relieve shortages and spread
the availability of health care services will have our support.”
THE
ELDERLY
Trump appointed an individual
who calls the annual increase in the cost-of-living increase for social
security recipients a “Ponzi Scheme.”
“Elderly Americans desire and
deserve independence, dignity, and the opportunity for continued useful
participation. We will strengthen the Social Security system and provide
automatic cost of living adjustments under Social Security and the Railroad
Retirement Act. An increase in earnings permitted to Social Security recipients
without loss of benefits, provision for postage 65 contributions to Social
Security with deferment of benefits, and an increase in benefits to widows will
also be provided.”
VETERANS
Trump has reduced funds for
Veteran’s Hospitals and other agencies who provide care for our men and women
who returned from war zones.
“The Republican Party pledges
vigorous efforts to assure jobs for returning Vietnam war veterans, as well as
other assistance to enable them and their families to establish living
conditions befitting their brave service. We pledge a rehabilitation allowance
for paraplegics to afford them the means to live outside a hospital
environment.”
INDIAN AFFAIRS
The current administration
completely ignores native Americans. However, they are defunding programs which
protected their right to land granted them by past governments.
“The plight of American Indians
and Eskimos is a national disgrace. Contradictory government policies have led
to intolerable deprivation for these citizens. We dedicate ourselves to the
promotion of policies responsive to their needs and desires and will seek the
full participation of these people and their leaders in the formulation of such
policies.”
THE INDIVIDUAL AND
GOVERNMENT
Trump’s fascist plans, included
in Project 2025, give government greater powers and removes the rights of 340
million people.
“In recent years an increasingly
impersonal national government has tended to submerge the individual. An
entrenched, burgeoning bureaucracy has increasingly usurped powers,
unauthorized by Congress. Decentralization of power, as well as strict
Congressional oversight of administrative and regulatory agency compliance with
the letter and spirit of the law, are urgently needed to preserve personal
liberty, improve efficiency, and provide a swifter response to human problems.”
A HEALTHY
ECONOMY
“A new Republican Administration
will undertake an intensive program to aid small business, including economic
incentives and technical assistance, with increased emphasis in rural and urban
poverty areas.”
Trump’s entire focus is on the
welfare of his oligarchs. He continues to remove programs designed to aid
consumers in the growth of our nation’s economy by improving the quality of
life for all Americans.
LABOR
“Organized labor has contributed
greatly to the economic strength of our country and the well-being of its
members. The Republican Party vigorously endorses its key role in our national
life.”
Since Reagan, the GOP has been
focused on the destruction of labor unions. Another effort to protect the
bloated profits of large corporations.
RESOURCES AND SCIENCE, AGRICULTURE
Trump and his fascist supporters reject science. His
ill-advised tariffs force family farms to face additional problems. Many of
these farms, owned by multiple generations, face extinction.
1968: “The Republican Party is committed to the concept that
a sound agricultural economy is imperative to the national interest.
Prosperity, opportunity, abundance, and efficiency in agriculture benefit every
American. To promote the development of American agriculture.”
NATURAL
RESOURCES
“In the tradition of Theodore Roosevelt, the Republican
Party promises sound conservation and development of natural resources in
cooperative government and private programs.
“An expanding population and increasing material wealth
require new public concern for the quality of our environment. Our nation must
pursue its activities in harmony with the environment. As we develop our
natural resources we must be mindful of our priceless heritage of natural
beauty.”
Trump is allowing the petroleum industry to drill in our
most beautiful and precious federal lands which have been protected by his
predecessors for generations.
SCIENCE
“In science and technology the nation must maintain
leadership against increasingly challenging competition from abroad. Crucial to
this leadership is growth in the supply of gifted, skilled scientists and
engineers. Government encouragement in this critical area should be stable and
related to a more rational and selective scheme of priorities.”
Trump has fired hundreds of scientists charged with curing
cancer, other diseases, and solutions for anticipated problems including
another coronavirus.
FOREIGN
POLICY
Previous presidents were focused on policies which would
encourage all nations to work together, including free trade agreements. The
schoolyard bully in the White House today is attempting to control the world’s
future with threats of economic destruction.
“Our nation urgently needs a foreign policy that
realistically leads toward peace. This policy can come only from resolute, new
leadership—a leadership that can and will think anew and act anew—a leadership
not bound by mistakes of the past.
“Our best hope for enduring peace lies in comprehensive
international cooperation. We will consult with nations that share our
purposes. We will press for their greater participation in man's common
concerns and encourage regional approaches to defense, economic development,
and peaceful adjustment of disputes.”
These are simply brief excerpts from the 1968 Republican
platform, which are in direct opposition to those of Trump and his fascist
party in 2025.
Republican Party: R.I.P.
Op-ed by James Turnage
Follow my blog and be informed
Source: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/republican-party-platform-1968
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