THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: THEN AND NOW -- When I Joined It And When It Left Me

ICONOCLAST ^ | by R. Bastiat

[clintonbaiter]

Perhaps it was always a self-serving illusion, and the Democrats were never anything more than the power-hungry, predatory coalition of insatiable appetites -- competing for government funds and favors -- that they have become today.......

[clintonbaiter]

Wise move.

[jjm2111]

We have to excerpt The Iconoclast???

[beckett]

I enjoy these conversion stories. With the exception of one guy (who was it? Michael Lind? oh yeah, and Arianna Huffington -- make that two guys), they've all gone one way in the last 20 years, left to right.

[Tamzee]

The column of comparisons in this article is EXCELLENT... it really clarifies all that is warped with the Democrat Party and why some of the hereditary Dem's still vote for it not realizing how it has changed.

[beckett]

The column of comparisons in this article is EXCELLENT...

True.

(1) Before & During Kennedy Era ................. (2) During and After Clinton Era

Free speech .................................................. Political correctness, censorship
Free trade ..................................................... Protectionism disguised as labor & environmental standards
Low taxes ...................................................... High taxes
Tax cuts ......................................................... Tax increases
Small business ............................................... Big business, crony capitalism
Economic growth .......................................... Environmental obstruction
A competitive economy ................................ An over-regulated command-and-control economy
Equal opportunity ......................................... Equal outcomes, group entitlements
Equality under the law, racial harmony .......... Race-conscious "remedies," identity politics
Strong defense .............................................. Reflexively anti-military ideology
Individual responsibility ................................ Collective guilt, blaming society
Suspicion of power ....................................... Centralized power
Rule by the common man ............................ Rule by elites
Bowling, baseball, and auto racing ............. NPR, PBS, & the National Endowment for the Arts
Hunting and fishing .......................................Gun control & animal rights
Beer and burgers .... ..................................... Brie and Beaujolais
The little guy .................................................. Rich wheeler dealers
Honest government ...................................... Influence peddling
Personal integrity ......................................... Slickness and sleaze
Public integrity ............................................. Solicitation of bribes, general corruption
Investigate the bad guys .............................. Cover it up & attack the investigators
Working people ........................................... Favors for fat-cat donors & union leaders
Middle-class consumers .............................. Billionaire trial lawyers
Risk and opportunity ................................... Safety and security
Individual liberty, voluntarism .................... Group rights, coercive utopias
Parental responsibility ................................. It takes a village

[Paradox]

Been there, done that, I am the lone Republican (scratch that, I am registered independant, but I lean towards the Republicans) in a large family of Democrats.

Either the Democrats changed or I did, or maybe my perceptions back in the 1960s were just a fantasy.

Probably a combination of all three. Personally, I never took anything the Republicans said seriously, because, well, they were just BAD PEOPLE, as EVERYONE knew. Didn't bother debating with them or considering their arguments seriously.. until one fateful day, I got into a gun debate with a libertarian, and that changed me forever..

[VRW Conspirator]

And in my working class neighborhood, being a Democrat was more than just a registration; it was an identity, an avowal of principle, and a statement of where we stood -- for the little guy, the common man, prosperity, progress, uncompromising free expression, and personal integrity.

I think it would help any conservative or republican activist to understand that there are democrats (rank and file), there are liberals( bleeding heart fools) and then there are leftists(the nearest thing to a communist). This author falls into the category of rank and file - a Reagan Democrat.

[expatpat]

I switched when I saw what a useless piece of $h*t Jimmy Carter was.

[John Will]

Don't fall in the trap, democrats are full of crap.