Op - Ed
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| Rev. Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. |
For 52 years the GOP has been moving toward a Trump-like
candidate. In 1964, the Goldwater movement captured the Republican Party’s
nomination for president. Goldwater voted against the 1964 Civil Rights Bill.
Goldwater was defeated by President Lyndon Johnson. It was a landslide victory
for President Johnson. However, the Goldwater forces crushed the moderate wing
of the Republican Party. Rockefeller, Javits, Case, Scranton, Margaret Chase
Smith and others were marginalized.
Richard Nixon made a comeback in 1968 because the war in Vietnam
had critically divided the Democratic Party and the nation. The Civil Rights
movement caused the Southern Democrats to leave the Democratic Party and Nixon
embraced them — including the George Wallace Democrats. The Southern democrats
really began their exodus in 1948, but did not make a full-scale exodus until
the 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Bill.
President Carter won in 1976 but the religious and political right
wing went all out for Reagan in 1980. Reagan gave a welcome carpet and comfort
to the South with a states’ rights appeal. The GOP for the first time in its
history formed an almost solid coalition with the Old Confederacy.
However, a new generation of voters appeared on the scene of the
political horizon and embraced the leadership of young President Obama. This
new coalition of voters elected President Obama twice. The Republican Party did
not develop platforms of creative ideas but instead built a House of Hate. For
eight years they have almost congratulated themselves on who could be the most
extreme haters of President Obama. These insidious, almost unrestrained attacks
against the President and his family not only built a partisan House of Hate
but made total room for a partisan monster. My son, Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, III
says the underlying message of Frankenstein is that he eventually turns against
those who created him.
When Trump was leading the “birther initiative”, the GOP was
essentially silent. Years ago, Dr. King said: “There comes a time when silence
is betrayal.” We can also say there are times when silence is sinful. When
Frankenstein was trying to destroy President Obama, too many “good” people were
silent. Now a monstrous spirit is choking the GOP and threatening the nation.
This House of Hate has become a national cancer, a smoldering volcano with
international implications. The ugly fact is, not only has a segment of the GOP
been hating President Obama for eight years; they have been hating Mrs. Clinton
for almost 25 years. This House of Hate has produced a monster that is now
threatening its creators.
There is another complication. The monster is not alone. There is
an army of followers prepared to do almost anything their new leader tells them
to do. Not just against Mrs. Clinton and other Democrats but against
Republicans as well.
There is still another danger. It is the suicidal and/or homicidal
path that says: “Ignore the top of the ticket and vote the down ticket. Do not
make a decision at the top of the ticket.” This is like saying: “Let’s not have
a leader or president for the next four years.” Would you recommend this for
your company, industry, corporation, business, family, university, city or
state for four years? I heard and saw this in 1968 and we got Richard Nixon,
Watergate and a national disaster.
Anyone who thinks that Donald Trump is equally as qualified as
Hillary Clinton to be President of the United States of America and world
leader does not know the difference between sunrise and sunset. Mrs. Clinton on
her worst days is 100 times better than Mr. Trump on his best day. She is
better in qualification, preparation, participation and dedication in national
and global affairs.
For the sake of Democrats and Republicans … For the sake of
generations not yet born … For the sake of Mr. Trump himself and the entire
nation, he should not be our next president.
After November 8, there will be an urgent need for a dynamic
movement of love, justice, and reconciliation … A movement to end decades of
hate and injustice. It will not be a new movement but it will need new
prophets, apostles, disciples and women and men of faith, courage, love and
commitment. This is our task. No President can lead alone.
We have yet to overcome over 400 years of slave-trading, slavery,
discrimination, lynchings, assassinations, racism, hate, sexism, bigotry,
poverty, homophobia, inequality, fear, oppression, violence and despair. Every
president needs pastors, prophets, teachers and activists to do things that
presidents can never do alone, i.e., build “a more perfect union.”
The Trump Trap is a threat to everyone including the GOP and the
whole nation.
The Reverend Dr. Otis Moss, Jr. is Pastor Emeritus
of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland Ohio and Founder of the
Love, Justice and Reconciliation Ministry.
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