[mware]

I have NEVER donated a cent to the NJ GOP since they treated Bret the way they did.

Ever time they call for a donation I tell them why.

He is a real down to earth guy. He was a speaker at CAPC one year. and sat in the audience after it was over. Matter of fact he sat at the same table I was sitting at.

We chatted about how the party treated him during that election. I'm glad he knew that the conservatives in the party were solid behind him.

[Huck]

I met Schundler too, at a street fair in Morristown. I never donate to any party. I very occasionally donate to a candidate. But never to parties. When it comes to political parties, I'm with George Washington. Right from the start, parties have been a bad influence. Probably inevitable, but I don't care to support them. I support candidates and ideas. Screw the party. They hold themselves above the country.

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.

Washington's Farewell Address 1796