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April 25, 2006
George David Aiken, Old-Timey Republican
From the "They don't make 'em like they used to" file...
I came across a quotation today that both impressed and depressed me with its cynical truth:
"If we were to wake up some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed and color, we would find some other cause for prejudice by noon."
The author of that statement was George Aiken, a Vermont Republican Senator (pictured).
Reading through the George Aiken bio on Wikipedia (some of which is copied below) made me realize how far to the right, and how far out of touch with mainstream Americans' needs, today's Republicans have strayed in this country and how close they are to the "Old Guard" we thought we grew out of back in the 70's.
George David Aiken (August 20, 1892 - November 19, 1984) was an American politician from Vermont. He served as Governor of Vermont from 1937 to 1941 and as a U.S. Senator from 1941 to 1975.A Republican, he was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives in 1931 and served as Speaker of the House from 1933 to 1935. He was lieutenant governor of Vermont from 1935 to 1937 and subsequently served two terms as governor, being first elected in 1936 and re-elected in 1938.
As governor of Vermont, he broke the monopolies of many major industries, including banks, railroads, marble companies, and granite companies. He also encouraged suffering farmers in rural Vermont to form co-ops to market their crops and get access to electricity.
During the Vietnam war, he said the US should declare victory and bring the troops home, which turned out to be a very perceptive strategy that was adopted too late.
He was a proponent of many progressive programs such as Food Stamps and public works projects for rural America, such as rural electrification, flood control and crop insurance. His views were at odds with those of many Old Guard Republicans in the Senate. He was often called a communist. Vermonters, however, gave him such respect that he reportedly spent only $17.09 on his last reelection bid.
Wow...imagine that: a Republican breaking up monopolies rather than helping maintain them, supporting individual farmers instead of corporate 'factory' farms and agri-giants, and working towards ending an unpopular and unjust war rather than promoting and extending it.
George Aiken, the American people miss you.
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