Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Ike's Son Will Be Voting Democratic For The First Time In November...
John Eisenhower, son of the last great Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, is a lifelong Republican.
John Eisenhower is a retired brigadier general, a former US ambassador to Belgium, and an acclaimed military historian.
John Eisenhower will be voting for John Kerry in November.
As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration's decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry.
In an editorial to the conservative Union Leader (New Hampshire), Gen. Eisenhower makes a great case for John Kerry, not just a case against George W. Bush.
Sen. Kerry, in whom I am willing to place my trust, has demonstrated that he is courageous, sober, competent, and concerned with fighting the dangers associated with the widening socio-economic gap in this country. I will vote for him enthusiastically.
I celebrate, along with other Americans, the diversity of opinion in this country. But let it be based on careful thought. I urge everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, to avoid voting for a ticket merely because it carries the label of the party of one's parents or of our own ingrained habits.
Gen. Eisenhower talks at length about his dissatisfaction with today's Republican party as opposed to the party his father once exemplified:
The Republican Party I used to know placed heavy emphasis on fiscal responsibility, which included balancing the budget whenever the state of the economy allowed it to do so. The Eisenhower administration accomplished that difficult task three times during its eight years in office. It did not attain that remarkable achievement by cutting taxes for the rich. Republicans disliked taxes, of course, but the party accepted them as a necessary means of keep the nation's financial structure sound.
The Republicans used to be deeply concerned for the middle class and small business. Today's Republican leadership, while not solely accountable for the loss of American jobs, encourages it with its tax code and heads us in the direction of a society of very rich and very poor.
This is a terrific piece. I hope you have a chance to read it, and I hope it makes you think...
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