“And In This Corner...”
Final Stretch Edition
Russ Otten, RPSC Chair
3/13/23
Fellow Patriots and RPSC Members, we are in the final stretch of our march to victory on April 4. So, this edition will be longer but worth your time with just a couple of housekeeping items to start.
First, please check out our RPSC website calendar for key upcoming events. It would be great to see you at one or more of them soon! Here is the link to our calendar: https://www.sheboygancountygop.com/events/month/.
Second, I hope you had an opportunity to see our impressive candidates for SASD Board and Sheboygan Common Council during their forums this past week. If not, I encourage you to watch these forums: https://www.wscssheboygan.com/video-on-demand/. Just scroll down to find the ones you want to watch.
SPEAK OUT!
The April 4 Election is Quite Simply a Referendum on Sanity
Art DeJong
We should all vote “yes” on the three referendums on the April 4 ballot. The first two are based on the sensible idea that a judge consider the danger to the public before setting bail and releasing a violent offender to prey on the community. The third simply requires able bodied people to be looking for work in order to receive welfare benefits. It makes little sense to pay people not to work when we desperately need workers and when workers themselves desperately need to work. It is a terrible thing to treat human beings like pets, or worse, like useless eaters to be fed and watered.
HISTORY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY
Founding of the Republican Party
On July 6, 1854, just after the anniversary of the nation, an anti-slavery state convention was held in Jackson, Michigan. The hot day forced the large crowd outside to a nearby oak grove. At this “Under the Oaks Convention” the first statewide candidates were selected for what would become the Republican Party.
Birthplace of the Republican Party
United by desire to abolish slavery, it was in Jackson that the Platform of the Under the Oaks Convention read: “…we will cooperate and be known as REPUBLICANS…” Prior to July, smaller groups had gathered in intimate settings like the schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. However, the meeting in Jackson would be the first ever mass gathering of the Republican Party. The name “Republican” was chosen, alluding to Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party and conveying a commitment to the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Party of Freedom
Though popularized in a Thomas Nast cartoon, the GOP’s elephant symbol originated during the 1860 campaign, as a symbol of Republican strength. Republicans envisioned “free soil, free speech, free labor.” Under the leadership of President Abraham Lincoln, the GOP became the Party of the Union as well.
The Republican Party called for the abolition of slavery.
President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was the entire Republican Party who freed the slaves. The 1864 Republican National Convention called for the abolition of slavery, and Congressional Republicans passed the 13th Amendment unanimously, with only a few Democrat votes. The early women’s rights movement was solidly Republican, as it was a continuation of abolitionism. They were careful not to be overly partisan, but as did Susan B. Anthony, most suffragists favored the GOP. The 19th Amendment was written by a Republican senator and garnered greater support from Republicans than from Democrats.