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February2, 202113 min read

Many of the staples we now take for granted almost fell victim to early cancel culture. But were those early fears of evil, immorality, or danger based in reality? Or were our predecessors simply overreacting?

The podcast Build For Tomorrow explores why people freak out when exposed to new things, from refrigerators to teddy bears. Read on to see how todays daily must-haves once generated angst and angry letters and to think about what were overreacting to today.

(Naturally, it all starts with coffee.)

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Coffee brewed centuries of widespread suspicion. In 1511, it was banned in Mecca for fostering radical thinking. A century later, Venetian clergy saw something more sinister and condemned the bitter invention of Satan. When asked to weigh in, Pope Clement VIII surprisingly enjoyed it so much he granted papal approval, even declaring, this devils drink is so delicious we should cheat the devil by baptizing it, opening the door for todays Italian coffee culture.

Anyone caught caffeinating in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire faced dire consequences: second-time violators were to be sewn into a bag and thrown into the waters of the Bosporus.

Meanwhile, coffee gradually replaced wine and beer as the breakfast drink of choice as drinkers realized it was a more energizing way to start the day. But when the beer industry complained in 1777, Frederick the Great of Prussia ordered his subjects to ditch the coffee and resume drinking their breakfast beer.

At the same time, though, London coffee houses became popular with artists and merchants. The Boston Tea Party solidified Americas allegiance to the bitter brew. As the coffee trade flourished, Thomas Jefferson proclaimed coffee as the favorite drink of the civilized world, and we never looked back.

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Big business tried to ice the modern refrigerator, calling it unnatural and unhealthy. After all, the 1800s-era ice industry employed 90,000 people and was worth $660M (in 2010 dollars). Ice was second only to cotton as Americas most valuable export.

Thats why door-to-door ice delivery men of the early 20th century mounted a fierce campaign to freeze out the technology and protect their livelihoods. They did have a legitimate beef: the earliest electric refrigerators occasionally leaked toxic methyl chloride. Plus, the first modern refrigerator debuted in 1927 at a whopping $520, while a brand-new Model T cost only $360!

But the ice industry just couldnt compete with the dripless convenience especially when Freon soon made the appliances cheaper and safer. New Deal programs that brought electricity to rural America further froze out the icemen. By 1940, 44% of homes had a fridge. By 1950, they were in 90% of urban homes.

Since then, the icemen no longer cometh, and our relationship with food has completely transformed.

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Is your sunny afternoon bicycle ride a sign of fitness, leisure or something far darker?

The public worried about the mental fitness of early velocipede riders. By 1894, the New York Times reported that increasing lunacy in England points directly to bicycle riders there is not the slightest doubt that bicycle riding leads to weakness of mind, general lunacy, and homicidal mania.

Wheelwomen were warned that this somewhat violent form of recreation left its unmistakable traces upon the delicate feminine frame, including an enlarged waist, more masculine hands and feet, and the terrifying bicycle face.

These physical ailments were nothing compared to the bicycles effects on propriety. The New York Times declared, a large number of our female bicyclists wear shorter dresses than the laws of morality and decency permit, thereby inviting the improper conversations and remarks of the depraved and immoral. And that was decades before spandex was invented.

But as cities paved roads, cycling clubs and races helped spread the sport. And the ladies? They influenced new step-through designs that accommodated skirts, while also seizing on the personal mobility offered by a bicycle. Many came to see biking as faster and easier than dealing with horses until the automobile took over. After that, for many decades, the bicycle was treated only as a kids toy.

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Wont you think of the children, and the terrible corrupting effects of birthday parties?

After millennia in which people didnt recognize (or know) their birthdays, birthday parties became popular in the 1800s. But many worried that these cake-and-presents parties corrupted the very children they were intended to celebrate. Indeed, one 1864 article suggested that children should celebrate by being a present to anyone that has taken trouble with them, giving gifts to the important adults in their life and supplying a meal to a poor family.

The danger extended beyond the celebrant. Ladies Home Journal warned in 1913 that the birthday party habit sows dangerous seeds for the future in child character and habits. The games and nervous excitement'' encouraged children to participate in rivalry that is poor preparation for any potentially successful body or mind. And lets not talk about the sugary cake.

But emerging marketers saw opportunity. Party-planning books of the 1920s instructed parents on throwing the right type of party, complete with cake, presents, and games and they overlooked the risk of corruption. Soon it was simply a matter of peer pressure. Post-war miniature golf courses, swimming pools, and McDonalds further entrenched the tradition, while todays parents can rent out trampoline parks, inflatable bounce houses, and stores dedicated to letting kids build their own sundaes or teddy bears.

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Have you ever worried that the teddy bear might kill off natural motherly instincts? As the toy tribute to President Theodore Roosevelt spread, pearl-clutchers warned that if teddy bears were not stopped, the result would be race suicide.

The leader of the anti-bear movement was a priest named Rev. Michael Esper of St. Joseph, Michigan. In a fiery 1907 speech to his congregation, he warned, It is a monstrous crime to do anything that will tend to destroy [maternal] instincts. That is what the Teddy Bear is doing and that is why it is going to be a factor in the race suicide problem.

After that, word quicky spread. The Idaho Recorder warned that the teddy bear is keeping the children from the pleasure of caring for a doll. He cant wear pretty frocks and dainty underwear, and the little girl who has him for a pet gets no incentive to make these things. Hence she loses the education involved in dainty garments. The Teddy bear is all right for boys, but not for girls.

Who knew the innocent teddy bear was so destructive?

Once again, popular culture helped ensure the teddys survival. The Teddy Bear Two-Step also hit dance halls in 1907, just as teddies appeared on jigsaw puzzles, greeting cards, and automobile accessories. Sewing companies sold patterns so girls could fashion tiny outfits for their bears thus nurturing their motherly instincts. More than a million bears were sold that year, and todays global stuffed animal and plush toys market is worth nearly $8 billion.

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Mirrors have long been feared for feeding sinful vanity that can shatter a person. After all, one of the seven deadly sins stems from vanity. And lets not forget that Narcissus downfall began when he saw his own reflection. Mirrored cabinets are called vanities for a reason.

Plus, there were centuries of worry about mirrors serving as supernatural portals.

Thats why it was so concerning in the mid-1800s, when modern manufacturing made mirrors affordable. As mirrors began appearing in umbrella tops and powder cases and restrooms, many feared that vanity run amok would halt societys progress altogether. People would be so caught up in themselves that they would fail to connect with their fellow humans.

Mirrors were cited as the cause of pedestrian accidents, as people wandered into busy streets while staring at their reflections. Elevator operators complained that women spent so much time admiring themselves that they slowed down operations.

Luckily, people learned to coexist with pervasive mirrors in lobbies and pockets, and we even began paying attention to each other again. Well, at least until the smartphone entered our pockets...

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You know somethings dangerous when the U.S. Senate gets involved. In 1954, the brand-new Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency investigated the link between comic books and crime. This followed a decade of comic book burnings, state bans, and hand wringing as a tidal wave of juvenile delinquency spread throughout the country.

What was in these terrible books? In truth, they werent targeted at kids. They were made for young men, especially soldiers, were the primary audience. Circulation tripled during World War II as soldiers bought ten times more comics than traditional magazines. When those soldiers returned home, they kept demanding comics with a bent towards horror, crime, and the supernatural and publishers complied.

Naturally, children got a hold of them. Comics were seen as a national disgrace linked to heinous crimes, and many worried that glamorizing fictional characters would pollute the hearts and minds of young readers.

Soon after the 1954 hearings, the industry established its own self-censoring Comics Code Authority to sanitize the more violent art while targeting younger, more innocent readers.

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As the first skyscrapers rose, elevators quickly became widespread as did fears of elevator sickness. Physicians of the 1890s warned that the rising motion could trigger brain fever, plus nausea and faintness. Habitual descents were thought to cause a disordered condition of the nerves, particularly when an elevator fell too quickly.

Although passenger elevators had been around since the 1850s, the early ones lacked many of the modern safety features we take for granted, leading to fears of broken cables and falling into open shafts.

With time, elevators got faster and safer. Automatic doors closed to prevent people from stumbling into the shaft. Speed controls and better hydraulics made rides safer and smoother. Bumpers stopped doors from closing on people.

Today, elevators arent just a convenience. Theyre often essential for multi-story buildings to provide equal access to everyone access that no longer causes brain fever.

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Remember when reading was considered bad, unless it was the Bible or another ancient text? No? Well, lets take you back to the 19th and early 20th centuries when the battle against novels was very real.

In the 19th century, some viewed the novel as a national enemy sapping the minds of our youths of all that is manliest and noblest. Popular dime novels clogged the mind, distracting readers from more important, serious books, like the Bible.

Worse, novels were associated with hooliganism and crime, with newspaper accounts warning of the dangerous powers of suggestion.

Even in the 1930s, some still worried that there was something wrong with children who chose to read. In 1938, the St. Petersburg Times suggested that parents reduce the number of books available to children and make reading inconvenient except for the set time.

Sounds a lot like screen time, doesnt it?

Luckily, the morality types soon became more concerned about comic books, which made the novel look far less dangerous.

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Once upon a time, people believed that the Earth was hollow, which meant that hell was directly beneath their feet.

That lingering fear helps explain why early subway systems got so much bad press.

One Boston religious leader warned that the subway was a project of Lucifer himself, while others warned that the subway disturbed the dead as excavators stumbled on unmarked graves. And wasnt that below-ground air dangerous to breathe?

To allay these fears, early subway stations were whitewashed and brightly lit with the newest electric lights. As people ventured into the stations, fear turned to awe of the engineering marvel. Word spread. The convenience certainly helped, too especially since the nations first subway system helped riders bypass the terrible Boston traffic.

Decades later, subways were trusted as shelters for air raids and potential nuclear attacks. And today, 180 subway systems serve billions of riders each year.

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Did you know that pinball made it all the way to the Supreme Court in 1974, when they ruled that the game involved more skill than chance?

By then, pinball machines had been banned for decades, hidden in seedy bars and basements. Since early machines lacked flippers, the game relied on chance and thus constituted child-corrupting gambling.

Authorities feared that pinball encouraged children to ditch school and skip meals. In a filing for that Supreme Court case, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia wrote that pinball machines robbed the pockets of schoolchildren in the form of nickels and dimes given them as lunch money.

Not to mention the mafia connection.

Dramatic Prohibition-style raids followed, with police rounding up machines for Mayor La Guardia to smash with hammers.

Two years after the Supreme Court ruling, the industry made the same argument to the New York City Council with a live demonstration by Roger Sharpe, the best player they could find. The last big ban was overturned, much to the delight of the city department that would bring in $1.5 million through license fees.

Though you still cant (legally) play on Sundays in Ocean City, New Jersey.

Want more examples of things our ancestors tried to cancel? Check out the podcastBuild For Tomorrow. And hear the story of banned teddy bears below!

Read more here:
11 Beloved Inventions That Were Almost Canceled - Entrepreneur

The sudden implosion of the Know Nothings should also serve as a warning to Republicans that the forces that have propelled them to the apex of American politics, helping Donald Trump win the White House, can also tear them apart, leaving barely a trace. The Know Nothings today are a barely remembered footnote to American history; if it continues on its current path, todays version could end much the same.

Much like QAnon, the Know Nothings started life as a secretive cabal convinced that the country was being controlled by an even more secretive cabal and much like Trump-era Republicans, their anxieties were rooted in a country that seemed to be changing around them.

In the late 1840s, the United States was being flooded with immigrants, in this case from Ireland. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of poor Irish Catholics led to a rise of political groups in New York, Boston, Baltimore and Philadelphia convinced that these immigrants could form a fifth column taking direction from the Pope. Under orders from Rome, the theory went, these immigrants would undo American democracy and steal jobs from hard-working native citizens whose economic prospects were hardly secure even in the best of times.

Though these groups had actual names, such as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, their membership at first was guarded and secretive. Asked about their views and political plans, members would reply only: I know nothing. The nickname was born.

Fringe movements need both oxygen and fuel. The panic over an influx of Irish-Catholics was the oxygen, and the fuel was provided by the break-up of one of the two major American political parties, the Whigs, after 1850. The Whig Party was never a coherent coalition, and when it finally cracked under the weight of North-South division over slavery, the Know Nothings suddenly emerged from the shadows to become a viable political force.

Given that there were both Northern and Southern contingents, the Know Nothing movement avoided the issue of slavery, instead directing the passions of its supporters toward laws against drinking (the Irish were seen as overly fond of drink; they were Catholics; they were in thrall to the Pope; hence alcohol was evil); laws against immigration; laws in cities such as Chicago banning any new immigrants from municipal jobs; laws to prevent immigrants from attaining citizenship.

These were not marginal moves. At their height, the Know Nothings, newly christened the Native American Party (long before that connoted the original inhabitants of North America), controlled the state legislatures and governorships of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Maine and California. They also held numerous seats in state assemblies throughout the South, and they sent more than 40 representatives to the House and several senators, all adamant. Most of them supported stringent nativist, anti-immigrant legislation; all emerged from conspiratorial clubs that had spread theories about possible Papist aggression and plots against the sovereignty of the United States. (In their grotesque accusations about Catholic priests and nuns strangling babies and holding young women against their will, its not hard to see an early version of QAnons core obsession with imagined globalist pedophiles.) In 1856, the name was shortened to the American Party and its leaders nominated former president Millard Fillmore as their candidate for president under the slogan Americans Must Rule America.

And then, almost as quickly as the Know Nothings surged, they split apart. Formed from scattered groups sharing a sensibility and an animus into a loose national coalition, the party was never tightly organized, much like the Tea Party in our time. Northern and Southern branches were just as divided over the issue of slavery as was the Democratic Party in the 1850s, which also began to break apart into two distinct camps. The rise of the newly founded Republican Party in the northern states also siphoned off Know Nothing support. Fillmore managed to get 21 percent of the vote in the 1856 presidential election and win Maryland (which was then bitterly divided over slavery, which was then legal in the state). But that was not the start of national party; it was the end of one.

Though the political movement collapsed, the anti-immigrant nativism of the Know Nothings never really went away. Even during the Civil War, when all other issues were subsumed, the passions stirred by the Know Nothings were never far from the surface. The New York Draft Riots of 1863 were in part an uprising of Irish immigrants after years of discrimination, with African-Americans bearing the brunt of their rage. After the Civil War, a Republican-controlled Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned all immigration for 20 years. Those currents also worked their way into the Populist and Progressive movements of the late 19th and early 20th century, which ultimately became a prominent strain of both parties, the Republicans under Teddy Roosevelt and the Democrats during the Woodrow Wilson years.

There are lessons here for the Republican Party today. History doesnt repeat itself. It does, as Mark Twain quipped, often rhyme, which means that its echoes resonate over subsequent generations in ways that can offer guidance, though never clear pathways. One lesson for 2021 Republicans is that being purely against something and someone can only take you so far. The Know Nothings needed that surge in immigration of the 1840s, and needed economic and political conditions to be perfectly aligned, to create an opening for a movement whose ideas were largely unidimensional, or at least monotonal.

In their policy goals, the Know Nothings were in part a reformist party representing working Americans against the elite; they ended up passing a variety of laws about working conditions that presaged the union and labor movements after the Civil War. But the movement was founded, and grew, purely on the strength of anger and resentment. And only because of instability in the political system the collapse of the Whigs and the widening divisions between northern and southern Democrats was there an opening for them in the first place.

Even then, populist outrage could only propel them to state houses and to the House of Representatives. Then, as now, those are the most fruitful avenues for grassroots and single-issue campaigns. Gaining larger blocs of support as a national movement is much more challenging and requires organization and coherence, and the ability to build and maintain some kind of coalition. Conspiracy theories, which were the core DNA of the Know Nothings, have coherence in their way, but they do best when they avoid the light of public scrutiny. As a local phenomenon, Know Nothingism thrived; as a national movement, it could only go so far before it splintered, fractured and collapsed.

That is one likely path for the Republican Party today, if the Trumpian-conspiracy wing keeps its vital place in the party. Trump reached office by loudly giving voice to undercurrents that the Republican Party had largely kept in check, and had he been re-elected, its of course possible that his long grip on power would have led to a more potent national movement. But even then, he never truly managed to deliver results, or to bend the government to his loose collection of ideas; a faction with one primary ethos subsumed to one primary leader could only have been viable long-term if Trump had actually managed to deconstruct the government systems in a way that he largely failed to do.

Without that kind of success to build a broader base, the QAnon wing now threatens to push Republicans much closer to the fate of Know Nothing Party, even though they dont know it. Many Republican voters, like Know Nothing voters in the mid-1850s, have legitimate grievances about economic equity and opportunity, but the party itself rests on deeper and more exclusionary currents of conspiracy, us-versus-them, anti-immigration and nativism. Trump remains the partys most important figurehead, even out of power, but the fervent supporters who keep him there arent mainstream voters but hard-to-control online cells and local parties.

That doesnt mean that all GOP voters buy into all of that not even close. But it means that the party itself will struggle to survive as an organizing force without that energy, and will be limited as a national party because of it. That limit is the lesson of the Know Nothings.

Its possible that the Republicans will evolve, even though the Know Nothings couldnt. Its also possible that political movements have changed enough in the early 21st century that a minority party with a conspiratorial bent and a small menu of adversarial issues can consolidate power in a large and messy democracy. But the latter isnt likely, and it wouldnt be a good bet for the Republican Party to think that it found a viable model after four years of Trump.

A final lesson of the Know Nothings is that those voters arent going anywhere even if the party begins to fall apart. Some may be lost to conspiracy thinking and hence best not indulged; some may be racist (though some Democratic voters are all those things as well). Many are simply legitimately angry at a political class that has failed them, and an economy that has changed too quickly and too disruptively, and the vehicle theyve chosen is a deeply flawed one. The task ahead is to address the plaints that are distinct from conspiracy and nativism and to recognize that some of the voters do know something, even as their party knows nothing.

The rest is here:
Heres What Happens to a Conspiracy-Driven Party - POLITICO

For those who flirted with parts of the ex-presidents populist message, there is a straightforward line of defense: While Trump obviously failed, real Trumpism was never tried.

The problem was the deeply flawed, unhinged and amoral champion of the populist cause, but not the cause itself, which continues to be relevant. As my AEI colleague Michael Brendan Dougherty writes, political conditions will continue to call for a Trumpist response for some time.

Trumps idiosyncrasies surely go a long way toward accounting for the wholesale failure of his policy agenda, as well as for his disgraceful departure from office. But conservatives have to confront the possibility that populism itself was an important component of the failureand indeed that any populist politics carries the seeds of policy failure.

The proposition will not sit easily with those who, in the wake of the Trump disaster, are seeking to rehabilitate the term. According to the American Compass Oren Cass, for example, theres a way in which populism also means taking seriously the concerns that people have, understanding that they will not all express them in the same terms a Beltway debate might.

But populism has a commonly agreed-upon definition: Namely, it is a type of politics that pits good and pure-hearted ordinary people against a self-serving, out-of-touch elite. As such, populism is inherently divisive as it singles out specific groups as distinct from the people (elites, immigrants, bankers, journalists). It is anti-pluralist as it treats the people as a homogenous entity. Finally, it has a penchant for authoritarianism: If one takes Trumps I am your voice seriously, why should there be any limits to the power of the presidency?

Moreover, through its Manichean nature, populism introduces passions into politicsas opposed to an interplay between interests and abstract principles. And passions are only rarely useful for threading the needle on public policy. In fact, if stirring passions becomes the aim of politics, policy outcomes take a back seat. Neither the border wall, nor the Muslim ban, nor any other of the ex-presidents signature policy ideas were instrumental to achieving any real-world objectives, such as helping those who helped to elect him. Instead, their sole purpose was to keep the audience engaged and emotionally invested in the populist spectacle.

Furthermore, the debate on the future role of populism within the Republican party ought not to be limited to lessons from the Trump era. The bigger picture is not an encouraging one. For every Israel under Benjamin Netanyahus leadership, there is a Hungary under Viktor Orbn, suffering from brain drain and dismantling its democratic institutionsor an India under Narendra Modi, gripped by social unrest and economic dysfunction.

In the GOP alone, recent manifestations go from Pat Buchanan through Sarah Palin and the Tea Party to Trump. Instead of yielding a governing strategy, the partys attempts to embrace populism were akin to efforts to ride a tigerbefore being eaten by it, like Eric Cantor or Lindsey Graham. Perhaps the tiger could be tamed, as the former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May hoped with her efforts to reshape the Tories as a party of responsible nationalismonly to see herself be overrun by ever more extreme fringes.

It should not be too much to ask those who wish to keep populism as a lasting hallmark of conservative and Republican politics to address populisms real-world record, instead of retreating to a purely abstract defense of politics that would supposedly take the concerns of working-class Americans more seriously than the Beltway elites. Yet, much like Soviet elites of the 1970s and the 1980s, who were not keen to defend the track record of real socialism, the high priests of populism today are keen to sell us a promise of an idealized populism to come, instead of accepting accountability for any of the mess that real populism of the past decade helped create.

There are important policy conversations to be had on the political rightand the leftabout subjects such as immigration or industrial policy. But with its appeal to passions and grievance, populism is the worst possible vehicle for policy change.

In Denmark, the left-of-center government of Mette Frederiksen is seeking without much ado to drive the number of asylum claims to zero, following years of restrictive immigration policy by Social Democrats. Any number of conservative, right-wing, or free-market-friendly governmentsnot least the Reagan administration in the United States or Margaret Thatchers government in the U.K.have provided assistance to specific industries or protected them from foreign competition. Whatever one thinks of the merits of such policies, populism and the pursuit of the substantive agenda advocated by those who want the GOP to be a party of the working class are perfectly separable.

If anything, populism makes thoughtful conversations on immigration, industrial policy, or social safety nets essentially impossible. On both sides of the Atlantic, the combination of the divisive us-versus-them rhetoric of populism on the political right with demands to curb immigration has been a surefire way to attract racists. And combining populism with an expansive view of the states role in the economy has been a one-way ticket to irresponsible, short-sighted economic policy mixesas the legacy of economic populism in Latin America demonstrates.

By all means, let us judge each policy idea on its merits and leave no stone unturned. Yet insofar as insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result, to seek to perpetuate the GOPs populism in the wake of the Trump disaster would be positively insane.

Dalibor Rohac is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington D.C. Follow him on Twitter @DaliborRohac.

See the article here:
The Problems With Populism Go Well Beyond Donald Trump - The Dispatch

Denver Newsroom, Feb 2, 2021 / 03:14 am MT (CNA).- During his final days in office, President Donald Trump floated the idea of founding his own political party - a move that would certainly wreak havoc for Republicans. Its unclear whether this idea will materialize. It is also unclear what will become of the QAnon adherents and other far-right supporters of the former president.

But even without a potential new political party, the GOP faces an uncertain future, with deep fractures and serious questions of identity needing to be addressed. And the answers to those questions could have significant implications for the pro-life movement.

Recent reports indicate that at least 30,000 registered Republicans have dropped their GOP affiliation since the January 6 attack on the Capitol and that number could be much higher, as only a few states have updated their voter registration data.

These numbers could mean serious challenges for a party that was already struggling with membership. Last year, the number of independent registered voters exceeded registered Republicans for the first time. Meanwhile, registered Democrats outnumbered Republicans by a full 10 percentage points, even before the wave of Republicans abandoning the party in recent weeks.

As they look to the future, Republicans must now grapple with the identity of the party in a post-Trump era, while also looking to expand party membership. There are at least three competing visions for the future, each proposed by a different Republican figure.

One possible path forward for the GOP is being advocated by Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse.

Shortly before the November election, Sasse acknowledged that he was not campaigning for Trumps re-election, because he believed the polling to show it was a lost cause, and he was more concerned about the Senate and the future of the Republican Party.

Sasse said that although he had collaborated with Trump on various nominations and policies over the past four years, he had serious concerns that the presidents values were deficient from a conservative standpoint. The senator said he was concerned about the Republican Party tying itself to Trumps brand and voiced fears that Trumps presidency was ultimately driving the country further to the left.

As a solution to the division and crisis of identity, Sasse has called for a greater emphasis on the Constitution and a return to basic civics - the foundational principles underlying the countrys very framework.

Sasses constitutional focus and conservative voting record, which often favor non-governmental solutions to social problems, have also included a strong focus on pro-life efforts. He has championed numerous pro-life bills in the Senate, including one to protect babies born alive after failed abortions.

Pro-life advocates would likely find a Sasse-led Republican Party to be reliable in its legislative priorities, judicial appointments, and regulatory efforts. Many pro-lifers may see this path forward as a continuation of the political pro-life victories of the Trump presidency, albeit without much of the inflammatory rhetoric and controversy of the past four years.

Another way forward for the Republican Party is that offered by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. A Washington Post article last week suggested that Hogan, a Catholic, has his eye on a 2024 presidential run and wants to reshape the Republican Party on his way to the White House.

Hogan has stated not only a desire to purge the party of those radical extremists [QAnon adherents], but also to shift to a more centrist stance on key social issues in the hopes of courting moderate voters and growing the voter base.

Among these issues is abortion. Hogan told the Washington Post he believes Republicans focus too much on the issue.Hogan says he personally opposes abortion, but believes it should remain legal and is not interested in challenging Marylands permissive abortion laws. In 2019, he was criticized by local Right to Life groups when he declined to veto a law that was intended to counter federal prohibitions on some funding to abortion clinics.

If Hogans record is any indication of what he envisions for the future of the Republican Party, it could spell bad news for pro-life advocates, particularly those who have bet heavily on the GOP as a political ally. A Hogan-esque Republican Party may not push to advance legal abortion like the Democrats have pledged to do, but it also might do little to advance pro-life legislation and other policies.

A third path forward for the GOP is that presented by Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Although Rubios ascent to the Senate just over a decade ago was fueled by Tea Party enthusiasm, the senator has made a name for himself in the last 10 years by eschewing hardline stances and working across the aisle.

While Republicans are sometimes criticized as ignoring many of the pressing issues affecting American families, Rubio has worked to offer creative solutions to these issues, often presenting proposals that are more palatable to conservatives who favor small government solutions.

Rubio was part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight senators who crafted a major 2013 immigration reform bill. He worked with Elizabeth Warren on a 2019 bill to help tackle the student debt crisis. He championed a paid parental leave bill that would have allowed Americans to pull from their own Social Security to fund time off after the birth or adoption of a baby.

It is worth noting that these legislative efforts have largely amounted to dead ends. If Rubio is to lead the GOP into the future, he will need to convince other party leaders of the value of compromise and some degree of government intervention in solving important social issues.

But perhaps the biggest impact Rubio might have on the Republican Party can be seen in the way his language has shifted in recent years to reflect Catholic Social Teaching, particularly the writings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Leo XIIIs1891 encyclical Rerum novarum.

In a series of speeches and essays in the last two years, Rubio has repeatedly called for a model of common good economics that places social health and human flourishing at its center.

Rubio has criticized the political right for promoting pursuit of profit divorced from community investment, and has criticized the political left for promising to enforce certain economic outcomes through socialist mandates. His own proposals focus on the dignity of human work and policies to incentivize businesses to reinvest returns in job growth and local communities.

Rubios ideas could transform the Republican stance on economic matters. They could also affect the political rhetoric of the pro-life movement. A Rubio-led GOP might undertake efforts to fight legal abortion, while also working to support families and expectant mothers, through initiatives such as health care reform, parental leave, and expanded child tax credits. Such an approach may particularly delight certain pro-life groups who have insisted for years that the movement needs to broaden its focus in precisely this manner.

Ultimately, it may take several years for the Republican Party to shape its image moving forward, and new figures may rise to prominence in that time, changing the direction of the party. While there is much that remains to be seen, interested observers may find that Sasse, Hogan, and Rubio are three pivotal players to watch as the process unfolds.

See more here:
Analysis: The GOP at a crossroads - and what it means for the pro-life movement - Catholic News Agency

Does the New Jersey Republican Party have a county committee problem?John Supino, campaign manager for Patriot Party gubernatorial candidate David Winkler, thinks so.

The campaign said that Winkler is the first candidate of the Patriot Party to run in New Jersey, and were it not for what Supino described as a broken and corrupted Republican County Committee system, the Patriot Party might not have been.

Herein lies the beginning of the new chapter of the NJGOP in the post-Trump era.The Republican Party has existed for 166 years.But the establishment of the Patriot Party as a consequence of Republican frustration may be the first crack in the Grand Old Partys foundations.It comes to grips with itself now that the Trump flagsintermixed with smoke and tear gashave passed from the US Capitol and Joe Biden occupies the Oval Office.

As far as New Jersey is concerned, however, where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 1,000,000, splinters such as those represented by candidates who want to continue a more Trumpian form of Republican Party will present at the least, an irritant but also a consequence.At the most, it could represent a reckoning and serious handicap to Republicans winning the governors office in the foreseeable future.Supino made it clear that the views expressed were his own and not necessarily those of Winkler, but that Republican woes were the blame of the Republicans themselves.

Last year, Winkler sought to run for Congress in the CD 8 Republican primary.The party came to [Winkler] and they asked him to drop out so they could install somebody else in his place, and the person who was put in his place was put there with the intention of losing, Supino said.David started getting a lot of attention and started doing wellI have no evidence that the other guy was there to throw the towel, but he didnt campaign, all he did was put his name on the ballot.To me, thats not a candidate who wants to win.CD 8, in the general election, consequently went to Democrat Albio Sires who beat Republican Jason Mushnick by a landslide 74% to 24.6%.Libertarian candidate Dan Delaney shaved off 3,329 votes but bears no blame for splitting the meager right-of-center vote and contributing to Sires victory.

To be fair to Mushnick, the Republican challengers performance at the polls may not be entirely surprising, however, given the institutional strength of Sires.His resume boasts a 12 year stint as mayor of West New York, then service in the New Jersey Assemblyas Speaker for 4 years, and then 13 years in the House of Representatives for CD13 and later CD8.Mushnick had previously run for Assembly District 31 with Mary Kay Palange against Democrats Angela McKnight and Nicholas Chiaravalotti, with the latter defeating the Republicans who never broke the double digits in terms of percentage taken.

Supino, who ran the campaign for Tricia Flanagan in the US Senate primary that ultimately went to Rik Mehta, took aim at the Republican county committee system for putting party interests ahead of the interests of the people.From my previous experience, the Republican Primary process is corrupt and broken.The county commission system needs to be abolished and done away with.Were probably the only one or maybe two states in the country that has this system.Its a system that perpetuates 21 kingmakers in this state.If you look at the race I did with Tricia, one person picked the candidate, that person was [Republican National Committeeman] Bill Palatucci, this is all public record.If you look at the newspaper articles, Palatucci put his arm around Mehta, took him to all the county committees with a wink and a nod and told the committees what to do, and they followed suit.So, in the worst light, Palatucci picked the candidate.In the best light, 300 or so people picked the candidate, but hundreds of thousands voted.

Palatucci had endorsed Hirsh Singh until a social media exchange over Governor Christie and Senator Cory Booker made the former switch his endorsement to Mehta, a candidate slammed by Joseph Rudy Rullo and Singh as a Democratic opiate peddler.

As for Murphys opposition headed to the election, Supino was sanguine about their timing.Jack [Ciattarelli] started last year, there are other people coming into the race on the Republican ticket, the Libertarian ticket.Voters dont care what you did the last year, they look at the last sixty days.We are going to do a hard push all the way.Events are easier to hold.Were going to draw more people than Biden, not that that is a huge accomplishment, but we are going to draw sizeable crowds.We see it already, and when the weather warms up, were going to be able to do more things outdoors.

Every campaign requires money, and good amounts of it, to keep in the game.The pandemic has curtailed most political campaigns of the usual nature, with candidates doing more and more virtual sessions to reach voters, which is a cost-saving route compared to the traditional methods.This could be advantageous to smaller campaigns, provided they can effectively use the media and internet to get the word out.I dont see overhead as being an issue.[Bob] Hugin spent millions of his own money and we dont call him senator, do we?Money is important, Im not going to lie, but we will have more than what we need.Theres a lot going on in the background, but there are things happening.This is going to be a national movement.

What the national movement referred to might manifest as, if it does, will only be seen with time. But Supinos predictions represent a serious problem for the post-Trump Republican Party as far as finding its way forward.In the state of New Jersey particularly, Supinos dissatisfaction which led to his break with the party is due to the very nature and habits of those who run the GOP.The Republicans have been in bed with Norcross for years.They had a meeting from what I understand, that 21 chairs got together and the discussion was how to run away from Trump.If thats the direction they want to take, thats up to them whether they exist or not.

What to do, then?The first thing they need to do is get rid of the county committee system that picks the candidates, because if they did, wed be running in a Republican primary.But because the system is so rigged, we had no choice but to go into a third party.

While Supino made it clear that he did not speak specifically on matters of policy, being the campaign manager, he said that the new party was coming from a position of common sense.To build support, they would be looking at a ground-level approach for what they believe are things average voters agree on.Well go to parents and ask do you want your high school girls to use the same restroom as high school boys?Nobody in their right mind could possibly agree with that.Eighty percent of the people who live their lives in such a way that these topics will touch homethose are things we are going after.

The platform was described as Common-sense populist.Very conservative, pro-2ndAmendment, pro-1stAmendment, constitutionalist.You dont need to be a lawyer to understand what the first ten amendments mean.

When asked if Supino thought that the Patriot Party represented a pathway going forward, a product of disenfranchisement with the GOP, he felt that the timing was right and that the Republican Partys own origins were proof that new parties had a viable chance, given the circumstances.With the reaction we are currently getting, not just from New Jersey but from around the country, I dont see why it wouldnt.The stage is set right now.Unlike the Tea Party, which in its time we have to give them credit, they did take the House.But we didnt have a stolen election, we didnt have people frustrated with the government the way they are today.I think the conditions are such that this may be the time.Weve had the Democratic Party since the beginning of the republic, there is no reason why if we started a new party in 1860 that we cant start a new one in 2020.The Republican Party was established in 1854 and ran its first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, against James Buchanan in the 1856 election.Abraham Lincoln succeeded Buchanan in the election of 1860, the first Republican in the White House a mere 6 years after the partys creation.

When I went through the process of the county committee system and when I saw the corruption firsthand, I was appalled, Supino said.The alternative would be open primaries.Let the voters decide who is going to run.The county committees do not understand their role as they should be.They want to be the power brokers.They shouldnt be the power brokers, they should be the facilitators to get each candidates message to the people.They should host debates, meet the candidate nights, they should go out and promote every single candidate.Thats not the way it works.Right now theyve got twenty people in a room and the first thing they say is How much money do you have?Then they vote, as they are told to vote by their chairmen.Some counties are OK, they try to be fair.Morris county is trying to do a line and I hope they fail.

Supino said that of the counties, the best or fairest was probably his home county of Bergen.They have a Meet the Candidate Night where they invite every candidate and people who are interested in hearing the candidates can go.I think they should give every candidate their own night so they have more time with the people, however, I do think that that single event will probably put them out there.

In addition to the committee system being unfair, Supino accused the New Jersey Republicans of being out of touch.Presumably, the Patriot Party represents a new, alternative voice for those dissatisfied with the status quo.When you have votes in the New Jersey legislature, such as the BLM vote they took last year where every single Republican abstained, and a handful voted, for BLM Day.Is that what we stand for?A terrorist organization?I sent Representative Bergen Ted Cruzs analysis of who BLM is: theyre terrorists.And, unfortunately, the Republicans in New Jersey are afraid to call terrorists terrorists and people are fed up with it.They see the burning buildings and people dragged from their cars and kicked until theyre unconscious and were going to honor that terrorist organization with a day?The average person doesnt buy it.

The New Jersey legislature adopted June 19, or Juneteenth, as a holiday and signed by Governor Phil Murphy.Assemblywoman Shanique Speight (D-Essex)introduced Assembly Joint Resolution 171to designate June 13 as Black Lives Matter Day which passed the Assembly and presently sits in committee in the Senate.Assemblyman Jon Bramnick was among the Republicans to abstain, andaccording to North Jersey, said, Black lives matter. Let me say it again. Black lives matter But this resolution doesnt deal with a concept, it refers to a specific organization.

The American political system was quite literally rocked following the January 6 Capitol Hill riots, an event which left 1 Capitol Hill Police Officer dead and 15 hospitalized.When asked about the impacts on the Republican Party following the January 6 Capitol Hill riots, Supino said, We know what happened there.Lets not kid ourselves, ANTIFA and BLM sent people in to do that.We know that, theyve been on camera, theyve been identified.Where was the outrage when they were burning cities?This is the problem, the only people in DC like Matt Gaetz are the only ones who stand up and call it what it is.People respect politicians who have a backbone.

The claim that the hundreds of rioters were undercover ANTIFA and BLM personnel is dismissed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Assistant Director Steven DAntuono who said there was no indication that they were involved.President Trump, in his call for peace and calm following the violence, told his followers we love you and that they should go home.Later, he released a message saying that those who participated in the violence would be held accountable.According to the New York Times, there has been dissention circulating among organizations such as the Proud Boys through channels like Telegram, calling Trump a total failure and weaka result of their sense of betrayal.

So, back to New Jerseydoes Jack Ciattarelli have a backbone?I like Jack, I know Jack, but from things I have seen lately, I am disappointed.

Supino felt that new ground was to be had with support from voters on both sides of the aisle looking for a more representative party.There are Democrats who arent AOC-style extremists and they want their kids to have a good education.They want their daughters not to have to use co-ed bathrooms, they want the best for their families.They see things going so far to the left, it isnt the way to go.

Nobody can have a political discussion without bringing up the contagious, microscopic elephant in the room.All aspects of life, including political life, have been impacted by the coronavirus and it has become a key issue for political leaders across the globe to handle.In many cases the legitimacy of the political establishment itself is tested by its coronavirus response, with electorates expecting results.We think [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis is taking the right course.The cure cannot be worse than the disease, when youre putting people out of business.Especially in a state like New Jersey, where property taxes are typically into the tens of thousands, people are losing their homes and businesses, for what?The government employees who are enforcing this have never missed a paycheck.Youre not allowed to open your restaurant but you better pay your taxes.Supino said that the fault absolutely lies at the feet of the political establishment.

With Jack Ciattarelli as the clear Republican choice going into the gubernatorial election, politicos have wondered out loud whether or not Bob Hugin might enter the race, seeking another run following his unsuccessful attempt to dislodge US Senator Bob Menendez.But still, all politics is local, and the county committee system is where Supino has a problem.Thats where the corruption happens.Additionally, he had little enthusiasm for the prospect of a potential or theoretical Hugin candidacy, which he did not dismiss as a possibility.He was a horrible candidate.You dont out-liberal a liberal.He didnt lose because he spent money and he wasnt going to win because he spent money, he lost based on his ideas.I worked on his campaign for a bit, but nobody was excited about getting out of bed and going to vote for Bob Hugin.Theyre not going to drag their neighbor to the voting booth.

The most appropriate role for the county committees, Supino argued, was to hold events and promote every candidate.The NRC holds their convention after the popular vote.Why dont the committees?

Supino asserted that the Flanagan campaign was ignored by the Party during the senate primary race.When Gary Rich dropped out, we were at the convention in Hunterdon County.Gary Richs team and our team called [Camden County Republican Chairman]Rich Ambrosino repeatedly to reschedule Tricias time to talk.She said we cant be there because we have an obligation to Hunterdon county, she was scheduled for a certain date and time.We tried for three or four days, sending emailsnot just us, our team and Gary Richour two teams tried and tried to get a hold of somebody to reschedule the date.Natalie Rivera was running and when Ambrosino finally called Tricia back, he said we gave the slot to Natalie, she called us this morning and asked for it.Then they put out a statement that Tricia never showed up for her appointed time.While true she didnt show up, that was because we had the obligation in Hunterdon.We tried for days to reschedule it but they refused to pick up the phone or answer our emails.So, you see how these things work.

Supino railed against a Mafia-style committee system.When [a candidate] announced he was going to run for governor, he was going to the county committees, basically to ask for permission to run.Politicians shouldnt be asking politicians for permission to run, they should go to the people.Why do we have to check with these 21 people to get permission to represent us?He continued.These people will deny it until the ends of the Earth, but Tricias first question from Monmouth County was How come this is the first time youve come to see us?In other words, why didnt you come kiss our ring for a year?Her answer was appropriate, she said she was out talking to the people who actually vote.

In his assessment of the Republican Party as it stands now, Supino was not optimistic.Given exactly whats happening here, its hard to support them.They dont care if they lose so long as they maintain power within their power structure.

Whether or not the Republican Party sees a serious threat from a third party has yet to be seen.Nevertheless, this represents a symptom that the GOP of 2021 would do well to address.If it sweeps the matter under the rug, it does so at its peril, risking minority-party status not only due to superior Democratic voter registration, but an exodus of its own.

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Amid Post Trump Disorder in the GOP, Winkler and the Patriot Party Make a Stand - InsiderNJ