By Donald A. Collins | 6 March 2023
Church and State
Former Republican Governor Pat McCrory, Republican of NC on the March 5th Meet the Press program pointed out twice it could be time for the emergence of a new major political party in 2024. Guess the horrible malaise of the GOP party right now might have been his reason for so suggesting, but it is an interesting echo from the time prior to the 1861 Civil War. Read on.
His argument was that with over half of the Democrats not favoring another run by President Biden and most Republicans worried that if Trump gets nominated because of his faithful base of voters, the 40% of all voters are American independent voters who will decide the next election. They might well vote for a new third party candidate. Of course the WHO would be critical.
There is a powerful historical echo now. In 1856 just before the Civil War, voters dissatisfied with the No Nothing Party and others, voted for the new Republican Party who ran its first presidential candidate Californian Senator John C. Fremont who lost to Democrat James Buchanan when the No Nothings and the new Republicans split the vote.
You may recall that before Donald Trump many polls showed that President Buchanan was considered the worst President in US history although Andrew Johnson, a Southerner, who succeeded Lincoln had a highly negative effect on post-Civil War politics.
Read some of the history here.
The Republican Party was founded in 1854, not 1860. https://t.co/SiGa93cLGz Frémont was the nominee in 1856, after the collapse of the Whigs. The “Know Nothings” only carried 1 state that year, with POTUS #13 Fillmore on the ticket. pic.twitter.com/iZFB3PDR2c
— Alex Howard (@digiphile) April 12, 2022
As everyone knows, in 1860 Lincoln was nominated on the 16th ballot and the first Civil War broke out shortly after his election.
In my view we are now amidst a second Civil War, both fueled by slavery and its subsequent racial discrimination despite substantial racial progress continues sowing fear among some right wing white voters about being replaced by blacks and immigrants.
As noted above, 40% of us are independent voters, voters who will likely decide who would win a Biden/Trump rematch.
A new party could as in 1856 split the vote, which then, as it did Buchanan, could elect Trump, although the new party candidate might get elected if he or she embraced issues such as choice, climate and environmental protection, gun control, mail voting and real immigration reform. And being clear about dealing with racism.
The GOP nomination will be a brawl, but enough Democrats and independents will likely find Biden acceptable enough.
Former US Navy officer, banker and venture capitalist, Donald A. Collins, a free lance writer living in Washington, DC, has spent over 50 years working for women’s reproductive health as a board member and/or officer of numerous family planning organizations including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Guttmacher Institute, Family Health International and Ipas. Yale under graduate, NYU MBA. He is the author of “From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”, “Trump Becoming Macbeth: Will our democracy survive?”, “We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”, “What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”, “Vote”, “Can Homo Sapiens Survive?”, “Will Choice and Democracy Win?” and “Can Our U.S. Survive 8 Plus Billion of Us”.“What Can Be Done Now to Save Habitable Life on Planet Earth?”: https://t.co/fHuh0CG6JD
“We Humans Overwhelm Our Earth: 11 or 2 Billion by 2100?”: https://t.co/TA4j7cp1tE
“From the Dissident Left: A Collection of Essays 2004-2013”: https://t.co/lkC2t3E1A9 pic.twitter.com/bQsL2mLBcO— Church and State (@ChurchAndStateN) November 1, 2021
Meet the Press full broadcast — March 5
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