Who are Democrats and what do they stand for?
I can tell you. I've been one since the day I first registered to vote, in Maricopa County, Arizona, on October 7, 1975, one day after turning eighteen years old. It was less than two blocks to walk to the county office building from the college campus, and as soon as my last class was over for the day, I headed out. I told the unsmiling clerk what I wanted, and she put the card on the counter for me to complete. Arizona had partisan registration back then, and I still remember how proud I was to write "Democrat" in that blank spot. And that's what's always been there.
Sometimes, We Don't Put Out a Clear Message, But It Hasn't Changed Much
Democrats are the party of the people. When I registered to vote, I knew what they stood for. I give two people the credit for that. One was my Dad, a World War 2 Navy veteran, air conditioning mechanic, grandson of Irish immigrants who came here willing to work hard to build a better life. His understanding of politics was that while everyone has their faults and flaws, there are politicians who stand for something more than just using their position to get ahead, and that working hard and being honest were the keys to success in life.
There were those who were phony, he said, and those who will prove who they are by what they are able to achieve. He cast his first vote for President for Franklin Roosevelt. His belief about hard work gave him deep convictions about the way Roosevelt and the Democrats saw their role as a government in helping the American people get through a depression, not by handing things out, but by giving them opportunities to exercise the value of their labor, to build bridges back to prosperity.
The other person I credit with my knowledge of, and appreciation for Democrats is my high school social studies teacher. Without putting any kind of partisan spin on anything he taught, he laid out the values of the Democratic party that existed in the 1970's, belief that the working people of the United States were the source of national greatness. His favorite President was Lyndon B. Johnson, who he always said had a crusty exterior, but who understood that it was the people of this country who were its greatest resource, and who did more than any other politician to break down racial barriers as well as offer what he saw as unlimited opportunity in the United States for those anywhere in the world who wanted to invest their labor in building this country.
Democrats Are "For the People" nnd Represent "The Little Guy"
Democrats value humanity. I think we got separated, somehow, from being known as the party of the working class because we value the equality of each person's human experience. Where did the distinction develop that this party is too focused on its far left agenda for LGBTQ rights, or abortion rights, or on illegal immigration than it is on minority rights or the working class? I believe our politics have been consistent.
The Democratic party believes that government has an obligation to protect individual rights, but also that it should be involved in addressing and resolving issues faced by the American people, particularly as a defender of those who are less privileged. When Democrats talk about promoting the public welfare, they mean giving government, as the only advocate for the people, a higher level of oversight over those things that have a direct impact on our lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Government oversight levels the playing field and enforces standards on which people can depend in order to create their own opportunities, based on their own hard work.
The Constitution defines and guarantees basic human rights. That requires a level of oversight in areas such as money and finance, health care, natural resource management, manufacturing and education. The bottom line is that Democratic party politics generally define themselves by the bottom line of government doing what is necessary for the benefit of all the people, not just a privileged few, based on their wealth, or their race, or their level of education.
Democrats are not driven by ideology. We are driven by necessity. For example, we see the value of education, not just in providing society with an educated electorate, but in enhancing the opportunities of all people, so the government has taken the responsibility for providing a system of public education that everyone can access. And we push for more than just maintenance of the system, we push for improvement of it, we believe educators, not politicians, should be the leaders of the improvement, and we work to increase the accessibility of students to the higher levels of it.
Republicans are afraid of an educated society.
The Democratic party that I know believes that health care is a basic human right. Not just basic health care, but whatever health care is available based on what medical research has discovered and made available. And as far as I know, the party goal is still working toward reducing the cost and increasing the accessibility of the best health care available. The only kind of health care reform that the American people have seen, as a recent political development, it was has been proposed by Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. And what both of them proposed moved this country miles toward a universal, single-payer system.
And I'm Going to Make Religion Part of the Discussion
The small, Southern Baptist church in which I was raised did not resemble the white supremacist, Christian nationalist direction that conservative Evangelicals have taken. In all honesty, there was a lot of superstition and folk religion blended in with some basic Christian theology and doctrine. Our pastors were all bi-vocational, and I don't remember any of them having much beyond a couple of years of college education. But politics were never, ever preached from the pulpit. And in that particular congregation, made up mostly of working class people, most of whom were civil service employees at a nearby military base, there were more union members and Democrats than there were Republicans.
When I went to college, at a university that was operated by the same denomination, I learned a lot of theology and doctrine that was quite different from what I had been taught in that small church. The professors, who would now be labelled as "liberals," (and to be honest, were labelled that way back then by some people) emphasized a systematic Christian theology based on prioritizing the specific principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which starts with what he called the first and greatest commandment, including "love your neighbor as you love yourself." He says that all of the law and the prophets hang on these this commandment. And his narrative commentary doesn't start with the ten commandments, it starts with the Beatitudes.
That's pretty easy to figure out.
So one of the reasons I am a Democrat, and remain loyal to this particular way of expressing my patriotic loyalty to the United States because of my exposure to the Christian faith. I no longer identify with Southern Baptists, and avoid any association with the terms "conservative, Evangelical," and I self describe more along the lines of Quakerism, if a label is necessary. But the basic values, the respect for other human beings, regardless of who they are or how they identify themselves, is a core Democratic party value.
Getting Our Image Back
There was a discussion yesterday on WCPT between one of the hosts and a Missouri legislator who is one of the minority leaders. I was in and out of the car, so I didn't get the names. The discussion was over the fact that, in spite of voters overwhelmingly passing an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution, the legislature, with a Republican supermajority, was still stonewalling the amendment and denying the will of the people. This was a constitutional amendment, not just a bill passed by referendum, and it was popular.
The question came up about other initiatives, part of the Democratic agenda, which get widespread support from Missouri voters, but yet, Democrats, who regularly produce around 45% of the vote in the state, just can't seem to get their politicians elected to office. Why is it that Democratic party values, reflected in legislation that is popular with a majority of the voters, seem to be favored by a significant majority, but the legislature doesn't reflect that level of support for Democrats?
The values are there, and they are popular. So why aren't the politicians?
Honestly, I can't really answer that question. Personally, I don't cast ballots for Republicans. If there's a place on the ballot and there's no Democratic candidate, I leave it blank. I know that not all of our politicans are great people, and some of them are more interested in the perks than in using the power to benefit people. But somewhere along the line, many Democratic candidates are identified with left wing extremism more than they are with the party's values.
I do believe that we need to open opportunities for some new leaders. We do have those in office now who have lost their motivation and seem tired, unwilling to take bold risks that lead to positive outcomes. We lost a Presidential election, not because we had a bad candidate, or that she was a black woman, and the electorate wasn't ready for that, but because our party was plunged into confusion and chaos three months before the election when a decision that its leadership should have made at least a year before, for President Biden not to run, than doing it the way they did. And because our values were not on display during any of that chaos, while the big donors called the shots and got at least one change they wanted without the approval of the rank and file.
I hope Harris runs again in 2028. She'll win easily with time, and she's one of those politicians who have the charisma and the intelligence to rise above the field on their own.
We need politicians who not only know what this party stands for, but who are bold, willing to take the risks necessary, putting their own job on the line for the benefit of others, which is what Democrats used to do. Pay attention to David Hogg and Leaders We Deserve. He has that kind of enthusiasm and motivation, he is centered in the party's values and he is willing to take those risks to bring about opportunity. Time will bring others to the surface, a process that is already taking place. Don't look for the angry speeches, look for the politician who is putting his job on the line. That will show you who is carrying the party's values, and who is playing the old school games.
No comments:
Post a Comment