Submitted by Stewart Gardner, Aug 19, 2007 11:10

Dear Mr. Sager, Please keep speaking out. Your description of the Republican Party today sheds light on its transformation over the last perhaps twenty or thirty odd years culminating in something unrecognizable under George W. Bush. Evolution is a natural process driven to improve the object of its attention. That the 'base' does not believe in this process as applied to living creatures speaks volumes. The Party of my grandfather and uncles (my father is not now and was never a Republican) is long gone. It has not evolved; it looks to an observer as though it has been hijacked. What was once a political institution that fielded candidates for whom Democrats could vote from time to time has turned into a collection of issues actually supported by a minority and presented in such a fashion as to appear based in anger and intolerance. Its once simplified ideals, today looking back, did not seem radical or distateful. Disagreement is healthy. Many years ago, thirty some I think, Francis Sargent ran for Govenor from Massachussetts as the first candidate-environmentalist by stating and proposing the obvious, that we needed to preserve our woods (no real forest left in New England except Maine), safeguard our drinking water, and keep the air we breath clean. He was neither anti business nor anti person. He did not vilify his opponent or Democrats. He surely believed in balancing budgets. Nobody, Democrat or Republican faulted him for thinking about protecting our environment. It seemed a pretty good idea at the time. You sound as if you could be someone who might help this Grand Old Party reclaim its roots and ideals. It has gone so far astray and is driving followers away. During the last Presidential election one of my uncles essentially asked my permission not to vote for George W. Bush. Some 'Republicans' might scoff at an old man's silliness. I would caution any remaining real Republican not to dismiss what my uncle's anguish represents. The original 'base' of the Republican party had to have been far larger and more stable than its current 'base' of religious fundamentalists. Both of my uncles served in the Second World War as Naval officers, and my father was an officer in the Navy at the end of the war. My cousin, the son of my uncle who asked permission not to vote for GWB in 2004, volunteered to serve in the Navy during the Vietnam war and belonged to a group of Naval officers who opposed that war and still served. I have another cousin who served in the CIA Operations Directorate and was in harm's way every day. My family is not unique, but it could be seen as a litmus test. We do not all think in lock step. But we are insulted and incensed that anyone might question or demean the patriotism of any member of our family regardless of who we might vote for or even if any one of us opposes war. And the issue of patriotism is just the beginning of what concerns us. Competence matters or should matter to everyone who knows how to get something important accomplished. Numbers of us are real businessmen. The failures plaguing this administration are staggering in too many ways and instances. We all know what they are. Any authentic corporate leader would have long ago been fired by his or her Board of Directors for delivering so many failures to a company. In the real world such Bush led incompetence would have caused the demise of the corporate entity. Successful entrepreneurs and heads of large companies all know that their ongoing business must have a plan as well as any expansion of their business must have a detailed plan in order to succeed. Without a plan and without attending constantly to the ongoing business, companies fail, and before they fail, they lose market share and customers. Then they are taken over or they just fade away and are forgotten. This presidency has been referred to from time to time as the CEO Presidency. Well, its not. It's not even a suggestion of a CEO Presidency. Gingrich may have launched a shareholder activist movement, but greatness did not become of it, pettiness did, and meanness and intolerance. The tactics refined by Rove and employed by this administration have worked to secure votes until they stopped working. In the heat of where ever we are at any given moment we naturally focus on issues and circumstances that immediately captivate our attention. What sustains any institution is a core set of values (not just some one's interpretation of family values) that appeal to a broad electorate or public, because the values mean something to everyone. If I were a Republican I would be incensed over the hijacking of my Party. When I look at the Republican Party now it almost looks like a fraternity house that was once well run, well kept, well presented but somehow was taken over by outsiders who seemed to be shaking it up to make it better when in fact they have left it in an Animal House disarray, trashed with many things inside broken and strewn about. For Republicans who still care about their Party, credibility is at issue. To win by my uncle's confidence and that of many conservatives (not radicals) a cleansing will need to take place, a reassessment of how the Party got to where it is now and a long, careful, thought-out process about how it can recover and continue. Such a process requires a plan. Success will require admitting failures. For some of us it will require an apology for attacking patriots like John MacCaine and John Kerry and many others. It will require an admission of failures so that we can believe the Party and its leaders understand what went wrong and now know how to address such circumstances in the future. Wars and natural disaster and decay of infrastructure are a given. The party and leaders who are chosen to face our nation's trials and opportunities are up for grabs. Americands are watching. The world is watching. And, yes, Old Europe matters. Republicans can take some lessons from the new French President, a conservative who won with a real mandate and still installed opposition party members in key cabinet positions, because he really wants to make meaningful changes that will benefit France not just his Party and friends.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.