I want my Republican Party back!

I want the Republican Party that would work across the aisle, using a combination of tax increases and spending reductions to balance budgets (George H.W. Bush with a Democratic Congress; Newt Gingrich with a Democratic President).

I want the Republican Party that saw health care as a problem that requires government attention (Richard Nixon; Mitt Romney as governor of Massachusetts).

I want the Republican Party that believed that conservative values include conservation of our natural resources (Theodore Roosevelt established the US Forest Service; Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency).

I want the Republican Party that only fought wars when necessary, and that kept them limited (Dwight Eisenhower and G.H.W. Bush).

I want the Republican Party that stood for civil rights (Abraham Lincoln repealed slavery; Eisenhower signed the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction and established the Civil Rights Division within the Department of Justice).

I want the Republican Party that worried about competition when corporations get too powerful (the trust-busting T. Roosevelt).

I want the Republican Party that stood for strong defense but worried about "unwarranted influence ... by the military-industrial complex" in national affairs (Eisenhower).

I want the Republican Party that knew we have to talk to our enemies (Nixon visited China; Ronald Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev several times).

I want the Republican Party that recognized the danger posed by proliferation of weapons (Nixon signed the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the USSR; Reagan initiated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, and G.H.W. Bush signed it into law; Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Sam Nunn (D-GA) co-sponsored the 1992 Cooperative Threat Reduction Program).

I want the Republican Party that saw the development of infrastructure as an obligation of the federal government (T. Roosevelt began the Panama Canal; Eisenhower began the interstate highway system).

I want the Republican Party that introduced the pure food and drug laws (T. Roosevelt).

I want the Republican Party that worried about safety in the workplace (Nixon with the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the establishment of OSHA).

I want the Republican Party that worried about undue influence of soft money in campaign financing (Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russ Feingold (D-WI) co-sponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002).

Looking forward:

I want a Republican Party that recognizes that "government of, by, and for the people" means that the other party will control the government about half the time, and that neither Democrats nor the government is our enemy.

I want a Republican Party that recognizes that most Americans do not want Roe vs. Wade repealed; that most Americans are comfortable with homosexuals living in committed relationships; and that putting anti-abortion and anti-gay rights planks into the party platform is a futile exercise that will keep us from electing a Republican president.

I want a Republican Party that recognizes that non-Hispanic Caucasian males represent only about one-fourth of the US population, and that it will be increasingly difficult to elect a Republican president as long as white males represent the vast majority of the Republican power structure.

In short, I want my moderate, progressive Republican Party back!