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Show EDITORIAL: GOP Looks Ahead LA GRANGE, ILLINOIS, CITIZEN Republicans, having recovered a bit from the impact of their v party's drastic losses in the November No-vember 2 election, are giving serious thought as to why the party made such a poor showing and what should be done about it. This in itself is a healthy sign. It is a clear indication that lots of Republicans are not willing to see their party go by default; that, instead, they see in this defeat a ringing challenge to start preparing anew for future election opportunities. Answers must be given and soon to those who are now claiming that the Republican party is virtually doomed and to the cynics who ask, "Where do we go from . here?" We don't know where the Republican party is going from here, but we know where it has just been and it doesn't seem to lie in that direction. All the postelection post-election comments we've read so far add up to the fact that the Republicans did not offer the voters any real choice between what they proposed and what the Democrats were proposing. There seems to be a growing conviction already that the Republican Re-publican party must assert itself it-self on issues in such a way as o give the voters a definite hoice in future elections. The Chicago Daily in ews in n editorial Saturday deplored '-.is lack of choice in the pro-rams pro-rams of the two parties and :heir candidates, and an adjoining adjoin-ing cartoon pictured the two oarties as similar as two peas :n a pod. This, despite the fact that the News had urged voters to split their ballots on men and issues on November 2. The Chicago Tribune also came out Sunday with an editorial edi-torial appeal for a Republican stand that would offer, the vot ers a definite choice between that party and ' the Democrats. Both of these papers, in turn, cited an editorial in the Wall Street Journal making a strong case for the need for Republicans to join issues with the Democrats and let the voters have a real decision to make. If the Republicans are agreed that their best opportunity lies in making a clear-cut choice for the voters, they have already made a good start. Then they can get down to the bigger task of agreeing on what exactly this choice is to be. Whatever else this may be, we don't see how it can follow the lines of the 1948 convention platform. That was voted down along with the canaiaaies. resides, re-sides, the platforms of both parties par-ties were so similar that each accused the other of being a "me-too" party. And Mr. Truman Tru-man thought so much of the GOP planks that he called a special session of Congress before be-fore the election in an effort to get through these same planks which he was advocating. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, the criticism that the Republican platform meant all thing's to all men wasn't lessened any by the generalities on which Mr. Dewey chose to campaign. The Republicans have an unmistakable un-mistakable challenge to join issues is-sues with the Democrats to take a firm and positive stand and let the chips fall where they may. As the Journal puts it, 'The party which is afraid to risk defeat on a principle is a dead party, and it better not be in office anyway." |