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To: xp38
Yes. Btw did you or anyone else hear that the Republican party is 150 years old this year?

I don't think anyone has, at least not yet. It may have something to do with the fact that the places where the party was formed in Michigan and Wisconsin are regarded as blue, or Democrat, states, and Republican strongholds are now in the South. More likely, the party leaders were too busy with the election, and Republicans forgot their own past. What looks good in an off-year and helps keep the party in the news might be seen as a distraction in an election year when it's necessary to focus on winning every possible vote.

There's nothing strange about the silence. The Democrats turned 200 some time in the 1990s, and didn't have much -- or anything -- to say about their anniversary either. I suppose TV dominates and makes the present far more important than the past. Also, the old regional loyalties that bound the South to the Democrats, and the Northeast and Middle West to the Republicans don't apply any more, so celebrations wouldn't have the natural feeling that they had when those attachments were still strong (that might be all the more reason to make something of such anniversaries, though).

It's unfortunate. Time was when parties remembered these things. Marking the anniversary might have helped the Republicans to bring their origins and history back into the public eye. It might have made some uncommitted voters more interested in the party and give it a second look.

65 posted on 12/19/2004 9:43:12 AM PST by x
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To: x

All true. It is probably too late in the year now to do anything except maybe a year end note somewhere.


66 posted on 12/19/2004 10:19:48 AM PST by xp38
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