Editorial: The Republican opportunity
The Republicans meeting in Chicago today are facing a national situation more critical than that which existed when they met in the same city in 1860 and again when they met at Baltimore in 1864. As on both those historic occasions, they believe they have a chance for victory. If they are right in this belief, they have a great opportunity. If they are wrong, they may still give their party a significance and cohesion it has lost since 1932 and restore the vitality of the two-party system.
This system demand compromise. Each of our major parties is the equivalent of half a dozen or more groups and factions such as have bedeviled many European parliaments in times gone by. If we are to avoid a similar confusion here, the right wing and the left wing must somehow find middle ground. The extreme policy is not practicable and cannot be expected. But this need not mean that the party as a whole cannot stand firmly and unequivocally for a few easily understood principles.
This is the first wartime presidential year since 1864. In that year, the Democrats, as the opposition party, declared that the war to restore the Union had failed and demanded “that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hostilities.” They paid for that error by 20 years out of office. Today there is no question of Republican support for all-out victory. There is some question as to how fast the party will go in committing the country to all-out participation in a worldwide organization to keep the peace. Just eight years ago, it took its stand against the League of Nations and the World Court. It has certainly learned much since that time, as have the Democratic Party and the voters to whom both must appeal. The old cry of “entangling alliances” cannot successfully be raised again. Our only choice is between limited ties in a precarious balance-of-power system and full membership in a world organization for peace. If the Republicans will accept this necessity, as their wiser leaders urge them to do, they will redeem past errors.
In the domestic field, there are real issues on which the Republicans can seize. Perhaps the most vital of these is the relationship between the federal government and the states and between the federal government and private enterprise. Neither of these issues is likely to be stated now in the terms that would have seemed most appropriate in 1932. But they can be stated. The country has the right to expect a statement that shall e honest and explicit, so that voters this fall may know exactly what they are voting for or against.
Viewed with perfect impartiality, the Republican Party has a great history. It has now reached a turning point. We may hope that this week it will rise to its destiny, suppressing within its own ranks the forces of isolationism and reaction.