From old Republican

I am old enough (78) to remember some awful times in the political history of this great nation. In 1968, George C. Wallace of Alabama campaigned as a whites’ rights champion. Obviously racist, he used the hot-button issues of the times: law and order, segregation rights, states’ rights—and carried 13.5 percent of the popular vote. He won the 46 electoral votes of Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi … and Arkansas. This occurred during tragic times for the USA: Martin Luther King, building a national following and gaining the attention and support of moderate whites, was shot dead on April 4, 1968. Robert Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president, was gunned down on June 5, 1968.

Now, 50 years later, President Donald Trump’s “White Americans First” programs continue to push those same racist and isolationist buttons to stir the same white-nationalist emotions across America. But there is hope: The Chief Clown of Alabama, Roy Moore, managed to lose the Alabama senate seat to a Democrat. Other equally important (but not as visible) elections in Virginia, Missouri, and elsewhere show a lot of hope for us old moderates and “used to be” Republicans. Most important of all, women across America are rejecting the concept of male domination in business and politics, and adopting attitudes reflecting fairness, inclusion, charity, and reason.

So, fellow elders, let’s forgive each other for all the times we listened to racial slurs and didn’t speak up; for all the times we nodded in silence when we saw bigotry paraded as an American value. And, most important, let’s watch the women go to work to fix America—you go, girls!

CLIFF HARRISON Hot Springs Village