You have stated that you were an involved member of the Democrat Party in the past and yet your posts show complete allegiance to everything GOP and complete opposition to even the most basic tenets of the Democrat Party.
I imagine that your entire outlook has changed- that your foundational thoughts on politics have taken a 180. You can’t say that the democrats “left you” as your posts show no hint of appreciation of any aspect of the Democratic Party- be it in the past or in the present.
Not just talking abortion and same sex marriage either- if you stated that you retain some thought on liberal principles but the Democrats “left you” due to abortion and same sex marriage- that would make sense and be consistent. But your opinions show NOTHING democratic about them.
In other words, if you thought as you do while you were with the Democratic Party- that would be like a guy wearing a black suit to a party wearing all white. Complete and utter difference of opinion on all matters but saying “I am one of you”.
It just doesn’t make sense.
It makes perfect sense.
I must be older than you. During the time I served the party, it really did do things for the poor, or at least things that were intended to do so. Medicare, Medicaid, all kinds of programs were initiated by the Democrats.
It also promoted low interest school loans for kids whose parents were, with that generation, trying to break into the middle class. Much, much lower interest than now, and pretty generous forgiveness. It really was a pretty good “public/private” partnership and did NOT burden the budget beyond the threat of default. Now, the PRINCIPAL comes from the federal budget. And how about the robust foreign and defense policies of Truman, JFK and Johnson? Even Clinton. You might not agree with all of them, but at least those men did not shrink from their responsibilities. Johnson took full responsibility for the problems of Vietnam. Clinton at least shot cruise missiles at Bin Ladin, and had them available to shoot. I personally think Clinton made a mistake in bombing Serbia, but at least he ACTED.
JFK lowered taxes on working people. So did Clinton. But so did Reagan and Bush. Obama never met a tax he didn’t like, and has introduced “stealth” taxes into a lot of things. Once upon a time, the Dem party favored people who worked for their incomes…even upper middle class incomes. Not now.
But since then, the party has gravitated to impotence abroad and “middle class welfare” at home. I was appalled (as JFK and Lyndon Johnson would have been) with a program in which people wealthy enough to buy new cars would get a tax break to do what they would have done anyway, and then destroyed the “clunkers” upon which poor people depend. What a heartless thing to do.
The Dems had total power early in Obama’s administration. They could have passed anything important to them. Did they improve SSI for the poorest of the poor who could not help themselves? No, that’s still miserable. But they did cut back on food stamps…for the developmentally disabled, that is. In rewarding healthcare providers for “well care” (middle class, mostly) and cutting back on reimbursement for “chronic care”, who gets hit? Mostly poor people and the disabled. What did they focus their healthcare efforts on? Well, Obamacare, which is a program to make part of the middle class subsidize another segment of the middle class and shoves 17 million more people onto an already overburdened Medicaid on which the truly poor depended for the limited slots available. Heartless. And all without apparently reducing the number of people with no coverage. At least Medicare applied to ALL seniors
And, of course, Dem administrations previously did not propose to fund abortions, did not profane marriage and most certainly did not oppress Catholics with things like the HHS mandate or Lutherans with things like we saw them try to do in the Hosana Tabor case. People of faith have to sue this government in order to protect religious liberties that the government should not have attacked in the first place.
No, I haven’t changed. Perhaps I can be faulted as a “bad Democrat” in that I have not “progressed” with the party that is now about gender politics and oppression of churches and not much else. But I really couldn’t do that and remain Catholic.
The Democrats of today are essentially the “Rockefeller Republicans” of yesteryear. Elitist, servants of wealth, disdainful of traditional values, regarding the poor as a “political commodity”. The Repubs of today are much more like the Democrats when I was growing up and as a young man.
When it comes to adherence to “classic” Democrat policies, I’m far more a Democrat than those who support the party now.
But as far as standing for what the party actually stands for now…no, I’m not, and you’re right about that.
