Out of Left Field: GOP’s 2012 autopsy, 2016 cremation

Michael Dinnocenzo

The 2016 election season is one of the most dramatically controversial in decades.  

So far, fortunately, it has not had the drastic repercussions of the 1968 campaign.

Still, this campaign has produced shock and mockery around the world. Folks elsewhere are stunned by the irresponsible, uninformed, and alarming views advanced by leading Republican candidates.  

Anyone who thinks that this is an unfair, partisan comment should google “PolitiFact” to see the “pants-on-fire,” outright lies, and distortions by top GOP candidates.

Last week, at Temple Emanuel in Great Neck, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Colin Powell’s chief of staff for nearly two decades, said that in his global travels people everywhere are astonished and dismayed by the language and positions presented by Trump and Cruz.

Wilkerson is a life-long Republican. Like many others in the GOP, he is disheartened by what has happened to his party.  

Among other things, he is highly critical of the unnecessary militarism of the Bush/Cheney administration and of its manipulation of data.

It is a long time from April to the conventions in July, and then to Election Day (Nov. 8).  Might we hope that some better things transpire for our democracy and for America’s role in the world?

At Temple Emanuel, Wilkerson fielded several questions from folks eager to find better ways forward.  

Chief among his responses was calling for more engaged and organized citizens who could have staying power to affect policies and values.

Wilkerson, now a “Public Scholar” who teaches at William and Mary College, affirmed the model I pointed to in the question I had a chance to raise.

Among the large group at the temple were several Long Island folks who had participated for years in SANE (now Peace Action), in PSR (Physicians for Social Responsibility), and United Campuses to Prevent Nuclear War (UCAM — with 600 chapters across the US, with an office in Washington).

All of these groups, with Long Island leaders, helped to organize the largest peace demonstration in American history.  One million people gathered with us in Central Park on June 12, 1982.

From that assemblage and from many other sustained projects, we worked with International Physicians to Prevent Nuclear War, and helped to contribute to winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985.

Wilkerson said we need more of those kinds of initiatives that expand engagement and that have staying power.

My late friend, Hal Saunders (who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Jimmy Carter and was director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation) left Americans and everyone a marvelous template for improving politics and all relationships.

Saunders’ approach meets Wilkerson’s call for citizens’ initiatives that can grow and have lasting impact.  

As founder of the Sustained Dialogue Network, Hal Saunders detailed approaches to relationship building that represent a significant alternative to the vituperative language of the Trump and Cruz campaigns.

Appropriately, Hal entitled one of his major books: “A Public Peace Process: Sustained Dialogues to Transform Racial and Ethnic Conflicts.”  We have seen a glimmer of these approaches, not in the GOP “wrestling match” debates, but in “Town Hall” sessions where each candidate can deepen his or her goals/approaches and respond in more depth to questions from good moderators and from citizens in the audience as well.

The value of debates should not be dismissed because they can reveal how leaders respond under pressure, and how they deal with adversity.  

However, governing and making society better requires more of the Saunders’ approach.

It very much affirms Wilkerson’s view that “negotiation and diplomacy is about win/win, not win/lose.”  

Ironically, Trump, who boasts about his skill in “The Art of the Deal,” shows little to no civility about how he relates to others.

Indeed, Wilkerson sadly concluded: “My Party produced Trump just as a pregnant pig produces piglets.”

Recently “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah played a tape of his guest, Lindsay Graham, when he offered very negative views about the last two leading Republican candidates.

After showing that segment, Noah asked Graham how he could now give his support to Cruz.

Graham said: “He’s not Trump.” Then, Sen. Graham added: “Cruz is not completely crazy.” A dismayed Graham concluded: “My Party is completely screwed up.”

Lindsay Graham’s judgment about this year’s Republican Party is as on the mark as is his pool playing skill (for that, see the Daily Show “You Tube”).     

After losing the 2012 election, Republican leaders properly – and sincerely – said they were conducting an “Autopsy” to examine what went wrong.  

They were on a constructive path then, but now the outsider extremists, led by Trump and Cruz, will cause the GOP in 2016 to do a “Cremation” before “the Party of Lincoln” can reemerge from the ashes.

It is a sign of the times that Democrats have won the popular vote in five of the last six Presidential elections.

Michael D’Innocenzo’s website is: michaeldinnocenzo.com

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