All of the usable surface

"People talk about the middle of the road as though it were unacceptable. The middle of the road is all of the usable surface. The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.” Dwight D Eisenhower

February 27, 2012: Dear Ike, I hate to bother you in the middle of a round of golf, trout fishing or just hanging out with Mamie on the front porch but in the words of Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman, "I got nowhere else to go."

Ike, I know America has already asked a lot from you. And we have no business imposing on you after you spent a lifetime dedicated to protecting and serving your fellow countrymen. But your country needs you today more than ever.

In 1944, when the country needed a leader to defeat the Nazis and put an end to World War II, the nation turned its eyes to you and you didn't disappoint. That dreary rainy night in June, when you glanced out the window of the Southwick House and gave the order to launch the Normandy invasion turned the tide on German forces and secured your place in history forever.

In 1952 when the country needed a leader to guide a post war America back to prosperity, once again the nation turned its eyes to you. A group of moderate Republicans, who had grown weary after twenty years of Democrat rule in the White House and the growing tones of right wing extremism in the GOP made you America's chosen son once again.

Yes, I know you were reluctant. I know you consistently replied when the subject of politics came up that you were a soldier and you belonged to the Army. But it took little more than watching President Harry Truman propose a budget that was $14 billion in the red and the growing partisan divide in D.C. that made you realize that some men are born great and some men have greatness thrust upon them. 

For you Ike it was time for act two. 

You were born to be a great military leader and now you were having greatness thrust upon you by becoming the leader of the free world. You were so popular that you even picked up an endorsement from Arthur Fonzerelli (aka Fonzie) in an episode of Happy Days.

"I like Ike. My bike likes Ike," Fonzie would say during an campaign rally for you in the parking lot of Arnold's drive in.

For eight years America prospered with you in the oval office. By all accounts it was a decade of nearly full employment, no inflation and tremendous personal gains. GNP, savings, personal income, auto purchases, capital investment were all up as the 1950's represented the best decade of the century. It's no wonder why we fell in love with 'Madmen' so quickly. 

Under your watch we built the interstate highway which opened up new frontiers and opportunities for families and business alike. In short, America discovered a whole new world because of your vision of connectivity. What's even more impressive is you didn't have to deficit spend to lay the pavement.

In all, you presided over eight years of peace and prosperity. You were relentless in balancing the federal budget because you felt that deficit spending was immoral. In fact, you were the last Republican President to balance the federal budget.

You considered yourself a fiscal conservative but a liberal on human issues. While many Republicans were attacking FDR's New Deal, you actually strengthened social security to include more people and higher benefits. In fact Ike, you basically kept in tact most of the regulatory structure that FDR put in place to manage New Deal programs. 

Some Republicans called this blasphemy but this was part of your complex DNA. You Ike were the first and only true compassionate conservative. 

Although you were deeply suspicious of a central government, you believed that "all human problems, excepting morals, come into the gray areas. Things are not all black and white. There have to be compromises."

Oh Ike, it's hard to remember the last time the word compromise wasn't considered a vulgarity.

Since you left us in 1969, politics has become more extreme as has the Republican Party. I know this probably doesn't surprise you, after all I remember you once saying if the right wing of the GOP didn't start playing fair, you'd gather a group of intelligent independents and leave the party.

Today the rush is on for every Republican candidate to associate themselves with Ronald Reagan. Personally I don't understand it. While like you, Reagan represented the right candidate at the right time in the country's history, Reagan was no you.

Spending rose, deficits rose and inflation rose during Reagan's eight years. The military build up that you warned against in 1960, happened in the 80's under Reagan. And the collapse of the USSR? Considering the former head of the KGB appears to be the leader for life in Russia, the Soviet Union's collapse simply rearranged the same pieces on the chessboard.

You on the other hand, remade the chessboard after World War II and then spent eight years with balanced budgets while building critical national infrastructure. 

You warned about the dangers of going into Vietnam years before we jumped into the war. "The jungles of Indochina would have swallowed up division after division of United State troops, who, unaccustomed to this kind of warfare, would have sustained heavy casualties," you said.

And you, a military leader your entire life, said the world should be more focused on providing things like schools, hospitals and food, "all the necessary things for a decent living," not more expensive military equipment.

Unfortunately today, vision, leadership and moderation appear to be, as you would call it, absent without leave.

Last week in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner they posted a story about a conservative gathering up in Fairbanks. The group sponsoring the event, the Alaska Family Council says the purpose is to vet and support "strong conservative candidates." 

And by strong conservative candidates, they mean those who believe in ignoring Alaska's strict constitutional right to privacy by injecting government into personal and private decisions. 

Ike, we went through a decade in the 90's of conservatives in the Alaska Legislature who did little more than ignore the state's daunting fiscal challenges while seeing who could pass the most anti-women legislation in the capitol. I'll always remember sitting in caucus listening to two conservative representatives talking about how birth control pills were a recreational drug and should be outlawed. 

Ike, how is that even remotely smaller government?  

In 2002 the pendulum began swinging back fast and we've endured the other end of the policy spectrum. We've seen a decade of tax and spend policies by Republicans and Democrats who continue to push us to the edge of the fiscal cliff. It seems on almost every issue, ideology has replaced intelligence.

Ike, I know there is not much you can do, nor would I expect you to. You served your time admirably and Americans can never repay your contributions, nor can the people of Alaska. Without your support in 1959, Alaska wouldn't have become a state.

Again, I do apologize for bothering you, but the number of Eisenhower Republicans is dwindling quickly and I don't see any reinforcements on the horizon. I only see the extremes, both left and right, pulling us into as you warned, "the gutters." 

Here's to the middle of the road Ike, all of the usable surface. 

Hi to Mamie.

Cheers!