The Democratic Party

[Cary]

It seems to me there are two schools of thought. One is overt. The other not so much.

The overt school, to which I adhere, it that our Party isn't perfect but it is our Party and generally we are going in the right direction. As Exhibit A I offer President Obama. He is, as I fully expected him to be, a great president and he will go down in history (assuming we have a future) as such. There will be outliars and flakes, of course. There always are. In the meantime we have the Republican Party which is imploding before our very eyes because of their outliars and flakes. That is what outliars and flakes do. Why? Because any group, no matter how homogeneous, will implode if people are nasty and not willing to compromise.

You see, if you want to find flaw you can, always. But I don't see them putting that coalition back together again and the reasonable moderates are where, exactly? Trump didn't do this to them. They did this to themselves.

I offer that as contrast.

Then we have the stealth school, which is ironically very similar to what is killing the Republican Party. This school says that we must destroy the "corrupt" establishment. Only then can we be pure. But of course they don't come out and say this directly because, well, Susan Sarandon and all of that. If they say what they really mean then people will reject them.

Oddly that is exactly the "conservative" idea over the past 40 or 50 years.

I don't want to emulate Republicans. Fortunately I don't think we will and I'm eager to get beyond the primaries. I'm sure the nonsense will persist but I'm also sure that the idea of trashing our Party will be put back into it's rightful place, once again.

[apcalc]

1. Good post

We are not perfect, but we must come together to fight the common enemy in the fall.

We may not get all we want but the alternative is dangerous . If we care about equal rights, climate change, education for all we must.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Template Sermon: Me and Mine Are Righteous, Those Others are Full of Sin......

A boring and affected theme even when it was new several thousand years ago.

[Cary]

4. Meaning what?

Your dismissal is vague. Anyone can say that to anyone else and then you're pretty much just another nihilist.

We are good. I'm not sorry if that bothers you.

[mcar]

9. What?

The OP is a thoughtful essay in the Democrats group. Why would you disparage it so?

[Cary]

10. Elsewhere I would be treated to hoots and hollers about badly I expressed it

And there is some truth to that. I can see how I could improve it. Maybe I will?

But it's always amusing to see which people get my points, exactly, and which people claim that they don't.

[Hortensis]

3. In this era the Democrats are the good guys,

and the GOP leadership has been taken over by the kind of hard-core conservatives who fought the establishment of a nation of, by and for the people over 200 years ago. They have been fighting to re-write and re-interpret the Constitution to shift power away from the people to the few ever since and have come very close to success recently. They need control of the Supreme Court.

While those of us who are committed to the equality of all men and to the democracy we inherited are determined to save it and undo the damage already done, there are those among us who are more emotionally invested in undermining and even destroying or replacing the Democratic Party.

That some of the party's strongest anti-Democrat/illiberal enemies are recently reenergized left-wing radicals, some of whom are no doubt registered as Democrats, is one of the most important lessons I've taken from a very strange election period filled with them.

[Cary]

5. Yes. Very strange but then if you simplify it maybe not strange at all

As I said any group no matter how homogeneous will eventually implode. It's just human nature.

I am sick and tired of being attacked by "conservative" low information morons. And I am even more sick and tired of the left's utterly inept imitation.

We are good. Our establishment, unlike the Republican establishment, has not lied to us. We, the real based are pretty well aligned with our establishment. We aren't just good we are very, very good. And for those who are so nasty and ugly and mean spirited about it, I'm ready to see them pay a price.

[Hortensis]

6. +1000 to all. I love reading positive posts

when many on both the right and left are devoted to smothering all respect and appreciation for our democracy under dumpster loads of...condemnation -- of not only what is wrong but also everything good about our government that I believe needs to be protected.

(Btw, when looking for a word for the blank (as the years go on brain farts have become more frequent), it turns out that both radical and reactionary are listed as synonyms for "malcontent." Of course.)

I suspect from the genuine passion they feel that they they mostly can't help being so miserably negative and have been doomed to a lifetime of disappointment and, usually, relegation to political back walls. That is, the price of unrealistically demanding too much, being so uncooperative and so intolerant of the choices of others, and, especially, being so miserably unappreciative of what is good and should be retained has to be very heavy. Wouldn't you think? Maybe if they lived in Syria or Argentina or something, but we have too much that is good here to gratify those who cannot appreciate by allowing it to be destroyed.

We are the people who founded this nation on liberal principles, and our generations are just going to have to be good enough to protect them.

[DemonGoddess]

7. K&R!

Cary,

Thank you for the positive post! Much needed right now I think.

[Cary]

11. Thanks.

[treestar]

8. Yes, we don't want to let perfect be the enemy of the good

all or nothing thinking gets up nowhere.

[NastyRiffraff]

12. Excellent post, Cary

Thank you for this. Yes, we, as a Democratic party, have our faults. That's not unusual, or surprising. We are a diverse bunch of people. The vast majority of us don't know each other, and those who do, often disagree with each other. And that's all, actually, good. It may not feel good at the time, but it strengthens us. We're used to disagreeing, we LIKE disagreeing. We love to debate with each other, and in doing so, we learn, we change, we end up respecting each other (although it may take awhile!).

The Republican party...ah, the Republicans. Before this election, they pretty much marched in lock-step. From Reagan's 11th Commandment (Thou shalt not criticize another Republican) to Reince Pirebus saying the party will support the nominee, no matter who it is, they presented a united front in public.

Until now. Until Trump whom they fear, and Cruz whom they hate. And now, they have to deal with disagreement from within, and they have no idea how to handle it. They're so used to, dependent on, that united front (at least in public) they're freaking out.

We know. We could teach them. Although right now it seems like we're falling apart, with all the anger and angst, REAL Democrats know better. We know who we are. We also know who aren't a part of us. We will have a Democratic nominee, and we will unite around that nominee. We will often disagree with her, loudly. And she will listen. That's the difference; we Democrats don't have demigods, we have real people who do good and make mistakes. Just like us.

[Catieee]

13. Democrat

as Democrats something must be done, Republican United States Senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley needs to get things moving and start making some decisions.

&sns=em