"There have been plenty of Republicans since, notably former Congressman Jack Kemp and former Secretary of State Colin Powell, who have sought to broaden the party’s focus and appeal. But as one of the great Republican advocates of civil rights, John Lindsay, noted when he left the GOP in 1971, 'Today the Republican Party has moved so far from what I perceive as necessary policies ... that I can no longer try to work within it'. John Avlon, the longtime speechwriter for New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani who has since become a prominent advocate for centrist projects such as the 'No Labels' movement, wrote several years ago: 'The Republican Party was right on civil rights for the first 100 years of its existence. It was right when the Democratic Party was wrong. Its future strength and survival will depend on rediscovering that legacy of individual freedom amid America's essential diversity. To win in the 21st century, the Party of Lincoln needs to start looking like the Party of Lincoln again'. This is true."
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John Nichols, "When Republicans Really Were the Party of Lincoln: What happened to the party that fifty years ago played such a vital role in passing the Civil Rights Act?" (2 July 2014), The Nation
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Republican Party (United States)
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