Decline-to-state voter? Help save U.S. from Trump
Just 24 percent. Yes, 24 percent of California voters are registered as no party preference (sometimes referred to as independent voters or decline-to-state voters) but can’t vote in our Republican presidential primary. The California GOP has shut them out. The solution: Have these voters register as Republican before May 24. Why? To prevent a predictable national disaster if Donald Trump were nominated and then elected president. It could happen if something untoward affected the Democratic nominee before November. So please, register Republican and cast your vote in the primary for John Kasich or even Ted Cruz on June 7.
Importantly, as a new Republican, you can vote for any state party primary candidate on the California ballot. Election laws adopted in 2010 give independents and all others a voice in all state party primaries. For those among the 24 percent who lean Republican, there is a major motivation to register Republican: You can help save the nation from Trump and preserve a balance of political power in California.
Consider this comparison between the 1964 Goldwaterfor-president campaign and today’s Trumpian onslaught of insults. Extremist Goldwater lost big to Lyndon B. Johnson. In California, that 2 million vote loss at the top of the ticket also resulted in major Republican losses in the Legislature — only 13 state senators out of the 40 and just 27 out of 80 Assembly members were Republican — a then-historic low. The Republican Party was in shambles. Extreme right-wing legislative candidates dominated the state platform meeting. Out of committee came a plan to “send blacks back to Africa.” Fearing its passage, when sane delegates left for dinner, party leaders placed a quorum call and platform chaiman and then-Rep. Bill Mailliard, R-San Francisco, adjourned the meeting. Thus, the California GOP had no platform in 1964. It got that bad.
Compare: In 1964, Barry Goldwater advocated using “low-yield atomic bombs in Vietnam.” In today’s presidential primary race, Trump proposes letting Japan and South Korea build up nuclear arsenals.
While Goldwater condemned the “Eastern establishment,” personified by his GOP opponent, New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, Trump rails against the “establishment.”
Goldwater defended “extremism,” while Trump now feeds on fear and outrageous, extreme positions.
In 1964, we nominated some racial bigots to legislative office. Today, Trump would ban all Muslims from entry to the United States and would monitor mosques. The First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Banning Muslims helps “establish” other religions, and monitoring mosques obviously inhibits “free exercise.” Both proposals are patently unconstitutional and made by one who would be our president.
In California’s 1964 primary, Goldwater defeated Rockefeller by 30,000 votes — votes that could have prevented this ultimate GOP disaster. Today, Republican voters can save the party from this Trumpian turmoil by voting accordingly. And for you independent, no-party-preference voters, help save the world from Trump by simply registering Republican and likewise voting accordingly in June. It’s easy: register online at www.registertovote.ca.gov, or phone your county registrar. Vote in June, and then, if you wish, you can easily reverse the process.