Voters Frustrated by Republicans

It has been frustrating for Americans to endure over 4 years of refusal by Republicans to work constructively with President Obama to move the country forward. Now it is clear that this same Republican attitude is alive and well in Massachusetts. Two Republican women activists, one of them from Foxborough, resigned from Republican Gabriel Gomez’s  campaign for the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by now Secretary of State John Kerry. In doing so they roundly criticized Gomez.

Why? Because Gomez showed willingness to “reach across the aisle” to Democrats by publicly praising Governor Patrick and President Obama.  Gomez’s comments indicated that he would be willing to compromise with Democrats on two currently hot topics: gun control and immigration reform.

This is a lesson that should not be lost on anyone, particularly moderate Republicans and independent voters, in the upcoming special election to fill the senate seat. The Republican Party in Massachusetts, and across the country, is dominated today by people driven by either a narrow right-wing ideology or “Republican party first” attitude, rather than by a willingness to work together with Democrats for the good of the country.   

Today’s Republican Party’s “my way or the highway” attitude would be unrecognizable to such national Republican leaders such as President Dwight Eisenhower, Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller or President Gerald Ford; it would be equally unrecognizable to past Massachusetts Republican office-holders like Senator Leverett Saltonstall, Senator Edward Brooke or Governor Frank Sargent. Conversely, today's Republican Party would not nominate, never mind elect any of these well-known Republican moderates. Rather, they would freeze them out.

For the good of the country, one can only hope that moderate Republicans will recover control of their party so that reasonable compromises may be achieved to move our country forward once more.