Eugene Conrotto: GOP has always had a dark side

I was a Republican until Barry Goldwater came onto the scene. My epiphany came when a cartoon appeared showing Goldwater admonishing a group of homeless folks with these words: “If you had any initiative you’d go out and inherit a department store.” Which is exactly what Barry did.

I always knew that my party – the Party of Lincoln – was in a fragile, unspoken marriage between the best in America with the worst in America. Teddy Roosevelt and Donald Trump come to mind.

The best in America mainly ignored its dark-side spouse’s accelerating politics-as-blood-sport excesses. The good side dropped the word “compromise.” It accepted the fraud of voter suppression. Too bad they didn’t give the Bible (which they are forever pledging allegiance to) a closer reading, particularly Hosea: “They who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Eugene Conrotto: GOP has always had a dark side."