# Would Lech Walesa be welcome in today's Republican Party? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 12, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248 "2012-01-12T02:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/1 "2012-01-12T02:16:15Z")
Walesa is avidly pro-labor and a member of the Reagan admiration society who recently refused to meet President Obama. I doubt he knows very much about American politics. I say the GOP would ridicule him and refuse to let him participate in the party based on his labor stance. ---
**Author:** ![Paralogic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Paralogic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paralogic)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/2 "2012-01-12T02:24:27Z")
> [@Linden\_Arden](#): > > Walesa is avidly pro-labor and a member of the Reagan admiration society who recently refused to meet President Obama. > > I doubt he knows very much about American politics. > > I say the GOP would ridicule him and refuse to let him participate in the party based on his labor stance. When several current Repub candidates are ridiculing Romney, who should be the shining example of Republican ideals (see: rich white business man), the would even Jesus if he made a surprise appearance. But since probably 0.005% of Repub voters know who Walesa is, the question is moot. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/3 "2012-01-12T02:50:12Z")
How could they refuse to let him participate in the party? But why don’t you flesh out that pathetic OP a bit, and analyze what his politics are beyond stating that he’s “a member of the Reagan admiration society”… I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. Tell us what his politics are and why he should fit into the Republican party. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/4 "2012-01-12T02:54:32Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How could they refuse to let him participate in the party? Same way they refuse to let Ron Paul participate in the party, i.e., quite effectively, as it turns out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/5 "2012-01-12T03:10:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Same way they refuse to let Ron Paul participate in the party, i.e., quite effectively, as it turns out. You mean by making him the chairman of the U.S. House Financial Services Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology? The OP is clearly (actually, not so clearly) suggesting that he’d be kicked out of the party. Something that can’t be done. ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/6 "2012-01-12T03:15:41Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > How could they refuse to let him participate in the party? > > But why don’t you flesh out that pathetic OP a bit, and analyze what his politics are beyond stating that he’s “a member of the Reagan admiration society”… I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. > > Tell us what his politics are and why he should fit into the Republican party. I don’t think he WOULD fit into the Republican Party. He is pro-labor and social change via collective bargaining. In the 80’s he won the Nobel Peace Prize and was an icon to many Americans and Reagan befriended him. The irony and possible argument is this - Reagan embraced Walesa but today the GOP would distance themselves from him. Now, he is strongly anti-abortion so that might be a way for the GOP to accept him. ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/7 "2012-01-12T03:21:00Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The OP is clearly (actually, not so clearly) suggesting that he’d be kicked out of the party. Something that can’t be done. No, I am suggesting that he would be given the Fred Karger treatment. > **[Fred Karger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger)** > > Fred S. Karger (born January 31, 1950) is an American political consultant, gay rights activist and watchdog, and former actor. His unsuccessful candidacy for the Republican nomination for the 2012 US presidential election made him the first openly gay presidential candidate in a major political party in American history. Karger has worked on nine presidential campaigns and served as a senior consultant to the campaigns of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford.\[5 Karger w... ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/8 "2012-01-12T03:22:55Z")
Lech Walesa wouldn’t have fit in well in the Republican party in the 1980s either. Lech Walesa wasn’t a hero to Reagan or Republicans or Americans or whatever because he was a conservative Republican. He was a hero to them because he spoke out against Communism and for freedom for Poland. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/9 "2012-01-12T03:58:22Z")
> [@Linden\_Arden](#): > > No, I am suggesting that he would be given the Fred Karger treatment. > > [Fred Karger - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Karger) OK. Why don’t you quote the section from that link that spells out specifically what that “treatment” is. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/10 "2012-01-12T11:43:02Z")
How can the leader of several Polish political movements and parties be considered an American Republican? The whole premise of the OP is flawed. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/11 "2012-01-12T12:33:19Z")
No, because he was resentful of people who were screwing over the Poles. Resentment is always bad, no matter what you are resenting. So let’s take back our country! [sarcasm smilie] ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-lech-walesa-be-welcome-in-todays-republican-party/609248/12 "2012-01-12T12:46:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > The OP is clearly (actually, not so clearly) suggesting that he’d be kicked out of the party. Something that can’t be done. Yes it can. State committees can keep candidates from appearing on their primary ballots, as Georgia did to David Duke.