On Saturday, 1/19, I posted the essay "Please God, Never Again" which spoke about the need I feel the Republican Party has in the 2016 Presidential campaign to field a much more moderate, middle-of-the-road candidate, a candidate that can, hopefully, build a coalition of diverse blocs of voters, leading to a GOP victory.
As a follow-up to that post, I offer the following quote, which I will attribute in a moment:
"Polls indicated that a majority of the electorate favored the middle of the road. The Republican right-wingers denied it. They were convinced that out in the country there was a hidden conservative majority. It was, they insisted, the key fact in American politics. Lacking a home, these disgruntled conservatives had scorned both parties. Nominate a genuine conservative, said the...ideologues, and this hidden majority would come swarming into the streets and elect a real American."
The above quote comes from the book "The Glory And The Dream" by William Manchester, the distinguished, award-winning historian. The book was written in 1973, and in this particular chapter, he was discussing the 1964 Presidential election, wherein the GOP nominated Barry Goldwater, one of the most conservative, right-wing candidates ever to run for the Presidency. His opponent was Lyndon Johnson.
The final tally of the popular vote for that year's election was:
Johnson: 43,126,218 or 61% of the votes cast;
Goldwater: 27,174,8998 or 38% of the votes cast.
The Electoral College vote was:
Johnson: 486
Goldwater: 52
Isn't it interesting that no matter how much things seem to change with the passing years, they always seem to stay an awful lot like they were previously?
Love and voting machines,
PJTT
copyright 2013 Krissongs Inc.
