As we approach the presidential election season what should we use as criteria when voting in our party's primary? Of course that depends on your party.
Previous successful presidents from that party can be exemplars of what we should look for. Here are some reminders for those voting in the Republican Primary.
The founding president for the Republican party was Abraham Lincoln. He showed great empathy for people of color. A modern Republican president should do no less.
Teddy Roosevelt served in the Army, was famous as a trust buster, and was the creator of our National Park System. In today's world these accomplishments should be emulated by a Republican president. The trust buster action should include not only Wall Street but also medical institutions, where the independent hospitals of yesteryear, often owned by local governments or sponsored by religious organizations or fraternal orders, have been sold off to corporations who may control all or most of the facilities in an area.
Herbert Hoover had two main accomplishments in his career. A Republican, he worked with President Wilson, a Democrat, on war relief efforts. Hoover organized food supply efforts for the government and several private food-relief efforts in Europe. He also was at the Versailles Treaty talks.
He sponsored a major source of non-polluting energy source that is still in operation, what we know as the Hoover Dam.
Dwight D. Eisenhower inherited very high taxes on the top brackets when he took office, a relic of World War II. Instead of cutting them he used them to fund the Interstate Highway System.
In domestic policy he pursued a middle course, continuing most of the New Deal and Fair Deal programs, emphasizing a balanced budget. As desegregation of schools began, he sent troops into Little Rock, Arkansas, to assure compliance with the orders of a Federal court; he also ordered the complete desegregation of the Armed Forces. "There must be no second class citizens in this country," he wrote.
In more modern times Ronald Reagan among other accomplishments kept the Social Security Trust Fund solvent by by cooperating with his friend, the Democratic majority leader.
The Social Security Disability Benefits Reform Act of 1984 was signed into law by then-U.S. President Ronald Reagan on Oct. 9, 1984. It has been described as “one of the key pieces of social welfare legislation” enacted toward the end of Reagan's first term in office.
The practice of releasing tax returns as president or when running for office didn't become commonplace until the late 1960s. In the run-up to the 1968 presidential election, George Romney (the governor of Michigan at the time) released 12 years of his returns from 1955-1966 after being pressed by reporters. This set the precedent for presidential candidates to release their tax returns.
Every president from Richard Nixon onward has made their tax returns public. Until our current president took office The only exception was Gerald Ford, who kept his tax returns private. Ford was not elected to the presidential office but inherited it when President Nixon resigned. Our current president is also trying to keep his taxes hidden but this question is being challenged by the House of Representatives.
The Bush presidents set the example of strong family ties and faithfulness in marriage that any candidate should emulate.
Anyone can live well if they borrow lots of money and then borrow more to make the payments. It is a sound conservative practice to keep the annual debt as close as possible to zero. It is possible to actually pay down on the national debt. Unfortunately we haven't seen that since the Clinton administration.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld says he is seeking the Republican nomination against President Donald Trump in 2020.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan harshly criticized Trump over the findings released in special counsel Robert Mueller's report, telling reporters: “It certainly did not completely exonerate the president as he said. There was some very disturbing stuff found in the report and just because aides did not follow his orders, that's the only reason we don't have obstruction of justice."
Our Republican governor, who's publicly been considering a primary challenge to the president since winning re-election in 2018 by a double-digit margin in our deep blue state, also told reporters that Republican reluctance to criticize the president was "very frustrating."
So the above points are thoughts that that Republican voters may find helpful when voting in their primary. My next column will offer similar suggestions fo rmy Democratic brethren as they consider their ever expanding set of candidates, one of whom has already disqualified himself in my opinion.
Stay tuned.