From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city, every village, and every rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower when signing into law the phrase "One nation under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Goodwin’s fallacious letter: History, policy and hope

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The Republican Party - GOP History

The Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists and individuals who believed that government should grant western lands to settlers free of charge. The first informal meeting of the party took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6th, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. The name "Republican" was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.

In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for President under the slogan: "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont." Even though they were considered a "third party" because the Democrats and Whigs represented the two-party system at the time, Fremont received 33% of the vote. Four years later, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House.

The Civil War erupted in 1861 and lasted four grueling years. During the war, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. The Republicans of the day worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery, the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws, and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.

The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women's suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917.

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The RCGOP responds to RCDEM Chairman's remarks: We guess it’s time for a little history lesson for Wayne Goodwin and his band of merry democrats who have over the course of more than a century, tried to destroy Richmond County economically, politically, and emotionally.

What’s even more disrespectful, is the fact that Goodwin and the democrats think the residents of Richmond County are so uneducated they can’t see democrat manipulation of information that has been spun to fool people into believing that what they say is historical fact, instead of the written documentation that exists in what we call history books, or better yet, en-cyc-lo-ped-ias!

Wayne Goodwin recently wrote: “History: Jefferson and Madison founded our Party. Jefferson drafted our Declaration of Independence; Madison fathered the U.S. Constitution. America today would greatly shock them. Farmers, merchants, rural folks, the middle class, the poor, and the educated comprised the early Democratic Party. Through the leadership of FDR, Truman, and LBJ our Party better reflects America’s melting pot.”

Notice how everything the modern day Democrat Party and especially the Richmond County Democrat Party is about is ‘the past’. They are so proud of what THEY FALLACIOUSLY PROMOTE AS THEIR OWN FICTICIOUSLY CREATED HISTORY from decades ago, probably thinking no one would remember, but it is the only thing they ever offer as an explanation for what and who they are today, while conveniently leaving out very important parts of their historical past... a past they are obviously ashamed of and rightly so!

Republicans have skeletons in our closets just as everybody does, but the democrats have nothing short of dead bodies piled to the rafters in their closets.

Case in point, here’s a little excerpt from the great liberal lexicon of the internet ‘Wikipedia’ describing clearly what was part of the military arm of the Democrat Party in the aftermath of the Civil War in the South… the KKK:

"Attempts by Congress to extend the powers of the Freedmen's Bureau was vetoed by President Andrew Johnson in February, 1866. In April 1866, Johnson also vetoed the Civil Rights Bill that was designed to protect freed slaves from Southern Black Codes (laws that placed severe restrictions on freed slaves such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against white men, carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations).

The election of 1866 increased the number of Radical Republicans in Congress. The following year Congress passed the first Reconstruction Act. The South was now divided into five military districts, each under a major general. New elections were to be held in each state with freed male slaves being allowed to vote. The act also included an amendment that offered readmission to the Southern states after they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteed adult male suffrage. Johnson immediately vetoed the bill but Congress re-passed the bill the same day.

The first branch of the Ku Klux Klan was established in Pulaski, Tennessee, in May, 1866. A year later a general organization of local Klans was established in Nashville in April, 1867. Most of the leaders were former members of the Confederate Army and the first Grand Wizard was Nathan Bedford Forrest, an outstanding general during the American Civil War. During the next two years Klansmen wearing masks, white cardboard hats and draped in white sheets, tortured and killed black Americans and sympathetic whites. Immigrants, who they blamed for the election of Radical Republicans, were also targets of their hatred. Between 1868 and 1870 the Ku Klux Klan played an important role in restoring white rule in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia.”

Just to make clear here, the ‘Freedman’s Bureau’ was formed by Republicans. President Andrew Johnson was a Democrat. ‘Radical Republicans’ were Republicans who fought for minority suffrage and later women’s suffrage always against the obstruction of Democrats.

Now, for any Democrat who is right now questioning the premise that the KKK was created and ran solely as an entity of the Southern Democrat Party, read for yourselves, here's an excerpt from the New Georgia Encyclopedia:

“From 1868 through the early 1870s the Ku Klux Klan functioned as a loosely organized group of political and social terrorists. The Klan's goals included political defeat of the Republican Party and the maintenance of absolute white supremacy in response to newly gained civil and political rights by southern blacks after the Civil War.

With the passage of the Military Reconstruction Acts in March 1867, and the prospect of freedmen voting in the South, the Klan became a political organization. Former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest probably served as the Grand Wizard, or overall leader, of the Klan and certainly played a significant role in its organized spread in early 1868.

In Georgia conservative whites, frustrated with their political failures during 1867, began to look for new ways to defeat their Republican enemies and control the recently enfranchised freedpeople. For many, the Ku Klux Klan and its public political wing, the Young Men's Democratic Clubs, offered a chance to take action. ”

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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18^th President of The United States and was a Republican! The Grand Jury he convened specifically stated, “The operations of the Klan are executed in the night and are invariably directed against members of the Republican Party.” Who was it that made up an important part of the Republican Party at that time in our history… African Americans! And the military wing of Southern Democrats openly stated, “The Klan is inflicting summary vengeance on the colored citizens of these citizens by breaking into their houses at the dead of night, dragging them from their beds, torturing them in the most inhuman manner, and in many instances murdering."

But Goodwin wants to assert that as historical precedent DEMOCRATS, “have championed civil rights. Lincoln freed the slaves, but Democrats — not GOP leaders — tirelessly pursued voting, property, education, and equal rights for men, women and children of all colors.”

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Do sanctimonious Democrats want more? Check this out, “ In many states there were fears that the use of black militiamen would ignite a race war. When Republican Governor of North Carolina William Woods Holden called out the militia against the Klan in 1870, the result was a backlash that lost him the upcoming election. Despite this power, there was resistance to Klan terror. "Occasionally, organized groups successfully confronted the Klan. White Union Army veterans in mountainous Blount County, Alabama, organized 'the anti-Ku Klux,' which put an end to violence by threatening Klansmen with reprisals unless they stopped whipping Unionists and burning black churches and schools. Armed blacks patrolled the streets of Bennettsville, South Carolina, to prevent Klan assaults. "There was also a national movement to crack down on the Klan, even though many Democrats at the national level questioned whether the Klan even existed or was just a creation of nervous Republican governors in the South. In January 1871, Pennsylvania Republican senator John Scott convened a committee which took testimony from 52 witnesses about Klan atrocities. Many Southern states had already passed anti-Klan legislation, and in February Congressman (and former Union general) Benjamin Franklin Butler of Massachusetts (who was widely reviled by Southern whites) introduced federal legislation modeled on it. The tide was turned in favor of the bill by an appeal from the governor of South Carolina for federal troops, and by reports of a riot and massacre in a Meridian, Mississippi courthouse, from which a black state representative escaped only by taking to the woods.”

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More historical information that cannot be disputed by Democrats who are as stuffed as a Christmas turkey on this issue, the 41^st Congress saw the first African-American Senator… Hiram Rhodes Revels, Republican from Mississippi (but he was born in North Carolina)… and the first African-American member of the House of Representatives, Joseph H. Rainey, Republican from South Carolina… elected to national office.

That’s right, they weren’t Democrats, they were Republicans. How can that be, pray tell???

Jeannette Rankin, a Representative from Montana, was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-fifth Congress (March 4, 1917-March 3, 1919); was the first woman to be elected to the United States House of Representatives. Hattie Caraway was the first woman elected the Senate in 1932, was a Democrat, and voted against anti-lynching legislation along with many other southern Democrat Senators.

Yet Goodwin claims democrats... only democrats, never, ever by his assertion Republicans... ‘tirelessly pursued’, “equal rights for men, women and children of all colors.”????

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The following are excerpts from an article written by Diane Alden
Saturday, Dec. 14, 2002 for NewsMax:

“Republicans, conservatives and constitutionalists always find themselves on the defensive in regard to civil rights issues. No matter what they do, will do or have ever done, the left, Democrats and contrarians demonize them as racists.

By demonizing Republicans and conservatives the left can continue to impose the big lie, which will be accepted as gospel by minorities, whom Democrats believe "owe" them.”

She continues, “What does the record say about Republicans and the battle for civil rights and specifically for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Public Law 88-352)?

Since Abraham Lincoln, Republicans have been there for blacks when it counted. Nevertheless, Democrats invariably take all the credit for the success of the civil rights movement and invariably fail to give any credit to Republicans.

In fact, the civil rights movement was not about politics. Nor was it about which politicians did what and which political party should take the most credit. When it came to civil rights, America's politicians merely saw the handwriting on the wall and wrote the legislation to make into federal law the historical changes that had already taken place. There was nothing else they could do.

The movement of blacks to the North, as well as their contributions as fighting men in the world wars, plus the hard work of millions of blacks and their families and churches, along with the efforts of many private groups and individuals made the civil rights movement succeed.

Civil rights for blacks found its historical moment after 1945. Bills introduced in Congress regarding employment policy brought the issue of civil rights to the attention of representatives and senators.

In 1945, 1947 and 1949, the House of Representatives voted to abolish the poll tax restricting the right to vote. Although the Senate did not join in this effort, the bills signaled a growing interest in protecting civil rights through federal action.

The executive branch of government, by presidential order, likewise became active by ending discrimination in the nation's military forces and in federal employment and work done under government contract.

Harry Truman ordered the integration of the military. However, his Republican opponent in the election of 1948, Tom Dewey, was just as strong a proponent for that effort as any Democrat.

As a matter of fact, the record shows that since 1933 Republicans had a more positive record on civil rights than the Democrats. In the 26 major civil rights votes after 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes. By contrast, the Republican majority favored civil rights in over 96 percent of the votes.

[See http://www.congresslink.org/civil/essay.html and http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1982/3/82.03.04.x.html.]

It was appalling the other day to watch former Democratic Senator Bob Kerry totally gloss over Republican efforts in the name of civil rights.”

More about, “The 1964 Civil Rights Act

When all the historical forces had come together, Kennedy decided to act. John Kennedy began the process of gaining support for the legislation in a nationally televised address on June 11, 1963.

Gathering business and religious leaders and telling the more violent activists in the black leadership to tone down the confrontational aspects of the movement, Kennedy outlined the Civil Rights Act. In it, the Justice Department was given the responsibility of addressing the worst problems of racial discrimination.

Because of the problem with a possible Senate filibuster, which would be imposed by Southern Democrats, the diverse aspects of theAct were first dealt with in the House of Representatives. The roadblock would be that Southern senators chaired both the Judiciary and the Commerce committees.

Kennedy and LBJ understood that a bipartisan coalition of Republicans and Northern Democrats was the key to the bill's final success.

Remember that the Republicans were the minority party at the time. Nonetheless, H.R.7152 passed the House on Feb. 10, 1964. Of the 420 members who voted, 290 supported the civil rights bill and 130 opposed it. Republicans favored the bill 138 to 34; Democrats supported it 152-96. Republicans supported it in higher proportions than Democrats. Even though those Democrats were Southern segregationists, without Republicans the bill would have failed. Republicans were the other much-needed leg of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The Man From Illinois

In the Senate, Hubert Humphrey was the point man for the Civil Rights Act. That is not unusual considering the Democrats held both houses of Congress and the presidency.

Sen. Thomas Kuchel of California led the Republican pro-civil rights forces. But it became clear who among the Republicans was going to get the job done; that man was conservative Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen.

He was the master key to victory for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without him and the Republican vote, the Act would have been dead in the water for years to come. LBJ and Humphrey knew that without Dirksen the Civil Rights Act was going nowhere.

Dirksen became a tireless supporter, suffering bouts of ill health because of his efforts in behalf of crafting and passing the Civil Rights Act. Nonetheless, Sen. Dirksen suffered the same fate as many Republicans and conservatives do today.

Even though Dirksen had an exemplary voting record in support of bills furthering the cause of African-Americans, activist groups in Illinois did not support Dirksen for re-election to the Senate in 1962.

Believing that Dirksen could be forced into voting for the Civil Rights Act, they demonstrated and picketed and there were threats by CORE to continue demonstrations and violence against Dirksen's offices in Illinois. James Farmer of CORE stated that "people will march en masse to the post offices there to file handwritten letters" in protest.

Dirksen blew it off in a statement typical of him: "When the day comes that picketing, distress, duress, and coercion can push me from the rock of conviction, that is the day that I shall gather up my togs and walk out of here and say that my usefulness in the Senate has come to an end."

Dirksen began the tactical arrangements for passage of the bill. He organized Republican support by choosing floor captains for each of the bill's seven sections.

On June 17, the Senate voted by a 76 to 18 margin to adopt the bipartisan substitute worked out by Dirksen in his office in May and to give the bill its third reading. Two days later, the Senate passed the bill by a 73 to 27 roll call vote. Six Republicans and 21 Democrats held firm and voted against passage.

In all, the 1964 civil rights debate had lasted a total of 83 days, slightly over 730 hours, and had taken up almost 3,000 pages in the Congressional Record.

On May 19, Dirksen called a press conference told the gathering about the moral need for a civil rights bill. On June 10, 1964, with all 100 senators present, Dirksen rose from his seat to address the Senate. By this time he was very ill from the killing work he had put in on getting the bill passed. In a voice reflecting his fatigue, he still spoke from the heart:

"There are many reasons why cloture should be invoked and a good civil rights measure enacted. It is said that on the night he died, Victor Hugo wrote in his diary substantially this sentiment, 'Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.' The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied."

After the civil rights bill was passed, Dirksen was asked why he had done it. What could possibly be in it for him given the fact that the African-Americans in his own state had not voted for him? Why should he champion a bill that would be in their interest? Why should he offer himself as a crusader in this cause?

Dirksen's reply speaks well for the man, for Republicans and for conservatives like him: "I am involved in mankind, and whatever the skin, we are all included in mankind."

The bill was signed into law by President Johnson on July 2, 1964.”

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What about one of the greatest presidents this country has ever known: Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight Eisenhower

34th President of the United States
In office January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
Vice President(s)	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	Harry S. Truman
Succeeded by	John F. Kennedy
Born	October 14, 1890 Denison, Texas
Died	March 28, 1969 Washington, D. C.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mamie Doud Eisenhower
Religion	Presbyterian
Signature

More facts from Wikipedia: Presidency 1953-1961

One of Eisenhower's most famous achievements as president was building the Interstate Highway System. He justified the highways through the National Defense Highway Transportation Act as essential to American security during the Cold War. As it was believed that large cities would be targets in a possible future war, the highways were designed to evacuate them.

Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower preached a doctrine of Dynamic Conservatism. Although he maintained a conservative economic policy, he continued all the major New Deal programs still in operation, especially Social Security. He expanded its programs and rolled them into a new cabinet level agency, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, while extending benefits to an additional 10 million more workers. His cabinet, consisting of several corporate executives and one labor leader, was dubbed by one journalist, "Eight millionaires and a plumber." Eisenhower was extremely popular, winning his second term with 457 of the 530 votes in the Electoral College, and 57.6% of the popular vote.

After the Suez Crisis, the United States became the protector of most Western interests in the Middle East. As a result, Eisenhower proclaimed the "Eisenhower Doctrine" in January 1957, in relation to the Middle East, the U.S. would be "prepared to use armed force...[to counter] aggression from any country controlled by international communism." On July 15 1958, he sent just under 15,000 soldiers to Lebanon (a combined force of Army and Marine Corps) in a non-combat peace keeping mission to stabilize the pro-Western government. They left in October, 1958.

Eisenhower supported the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which segregated ("separate but equal") schools were ruled to be unconstitutional. The very next day he told District of Columbia officials to make Washington a model for the rest of the country in integrating Negro and white public school children. Liberal critics complained Eisenhower was never enthusiastic about civil rights, but he did propose to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. They constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870s. He also sent soldiers to Little Rock to integrate their schools, and admitted multi-racial Hawaii as a state in 1959.The Little Rock Central High School crisis of 1957 involved state refusal to honor a federal court order to integrate the schools. Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into the all-white school; this incident did not occur without violence. Eisenhower and Arkansas governor Orval Faubus engaged in tense arguments during this tumultuous period in history.

Historical Fact: Both Ida Wells and Mary Terrell were co-founders of the NAACP, African-American women, and they were both Republicans!

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This quote from Goodwin is truly one for the record books… and I’ve been called a ‘false prophet’ ‘who offers nothing but rhetoric’??

Goodwin said, “Democrats are offended by corporations that flee America, taking jobs elsewhere.”

Here’s another little fact that betrays Goodwin’s words, Springs Laying Off Hundreds of South Carolina Employees

"Springs Global announced Wednesday that approximately 700 employees at its Katherine Plant in Chester and 60 at its Frances Plant in Fort Lawn will be laid off.

The layoffs come after the company's decision to transfer its remaining U.S. weaving operations to facilities in South America.”

Just so Goodwin knows, Springs Industries is co-owned by the wife of now liberal UNC-Chapel-Hill President and former Clinton Administration official Erskine Bowles. Right, these liberal democrats are surely ‘offended’ by companies who send ‘jobs to other countries’!!

Goodwin also asserts, “We believe in good, affordable healthcare and low prescription drug costs.”

What he actually meant to say was that democrats believe that hard working tax paying Americans should pay more taxes so that the government can foot the bill for those costs passing the responsibility of paying for those things off onto the backs of working Americans.