( – promoted by lowkell)
George Romney, father of Mitt (the present GOP front-runner), ran for the Republican nomination for president in 1968. Here is a paragraph from an article by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (the son, of course, of another candidate for president in that same intense, historic, tragic, watershed year).
It shows great change over the course of these decades. Some of the changes are about how Romney the son differs from Romney the father. But some of it, too, reflects change in the party, and the political environment generally, within which these candidates operate.
As the African proverb has it, “When the music changes, so does the dance.”
Prior to his withdrawal from the presidential contest on February 28, 1968, George Romney ran an extraordinarily honest, thoughtful and honorable campaign. The senior Romney, a former Chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation, criticized the military industrial complex for lying to Americans about Vietnam and mocked the products of Detroit’s Big Three as “gas guzzling dinosaurs.” He was a vocal advocate of Civil Rights and anti-poverty legislation. He supported strong unions as the launching pad for America’s middle class and criticized conservative palaver about “rugged individualism,” unrestricted free markets, and wholesale corporate deregulation as “nothing but a political banner to cover up greed.” Romney, a Mormon bishop, refused to work on Sundays (with rare exception), fasted before big decisions, spurned dirty campaigning and other appeals to the dark forces of ignorance, greed, racism and division.”
Surely, this is proof –if proof were needed– that not all change is progress.
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Andy Schmookler is running for Congress in the 6th Congressional District of Virginia, challenging the incumbent Congressman, Bob Goodlatte. An award-winning author, political commentator, radio talk-show host, and teacher, Andy moved with his family to Shenandoah County in 1992. He is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a PhD from the University of California at Berkeley.
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