THE DANGER OF BEING IN A POLITICAL PARTY’S POCKET

At least since the election of 1932, many ethnic and socio-economic

groups have tended to favor one political party faithfully regardless of

whether that party truly represents its interests. From the election of

Abraham Lincoln in 1860, until the rise of the New Deal of Franklin D.

Roosevelt in 1932, the Republican Party was the majority party in the

United States. All presidents, with the exception of Grover Cleveland

and Woodrow Wilson were members of the GOP. Black people historically

voted overwhelmingly for the Republicans until the establishment of the

New Deal coalition in the election of 1932. In the biography of Mayor

Richard Daley of Chicago, “American Pharaoh”, the Democratic appeal to

Black voters is described as politicians told these voters “You don’t have

to vote GOP because of a dead man”. Many other groups, as well as the

rise of labor unions have led to a long term unquestioning backing of the

Democrats despite changing conditions, on both an individual personal

level as well as a group or societal level.

In 1992, James A. Baker III, a distinguished public servant and Republican

Party stalwart (Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury to Ronald

Reagan, then Secretary of State to George H.W. Bush) was alleged to have

said to President Bush “F*** the Jews , they won’t vote for us anyway”.

Whether or not Mr. Baker uttered these words remains controversial and I

don’t know if he did or did not. However, the flip side of this, which is

applicable to any group would be “F*** the Jews, they will vote for us

regardless of what we say or do.” The Jews are simply being used as an

example and any other ethnicity or socio-economic group may be

substituted.

Various news media have attempted to analyze the 2020 election results.

The so-called newspaper of record, the New York Times, has been

perplexed at the seeming statistics indicating that a large number of

Hispanic citizens voted for the incumbent Donald Trump. The liberal media

has strongly implied that the interests of all minority groups and others

who historically belonged to Roosevelt’s New Deal coalition belong in the

Democratic Party regardless of how they perceive their interests. This is

wrong. Voters within any group may perceive their interests differently than

other members of that group. Additionally labor union members may not

slavishly follow their leader’s orders and vote in the privacy of the election

booth as they wish. A prime example of this is the rejection of Senator

George McGovern and his radical campaign of 1972 against Richard

Nixon who was re-elected in one of the greatest landslides in American

history. Similarly, most union members rejected Jimmy Carter, Walter

Mondale and Michael Dukakis as Republicans won the Presidency. The

New York Times has not endorsed a Republican since 1956 (Dwight D.

Eisenhower) yet it claims to speak for the best interests of Americans. It,

and much of the media are widely out of touch.

Individual voters, in elections at whatever level, local, state or national are

the ones who should decide just what their interests are. Political bosses,

self serving media and others of questionable integrity or expertise

(Hollywood, sports figures or millionaires) should be ignored. The voters in

a free democratic election will decide who or what is best.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, Nevada

May 17, 2021