Has the Democratic Party Ever Changed?

When I see the people defending the "mostly peaceful" rioters destroying our cities I see exactly the same people who were part of the Democratic Party in the times of the Ku Klux Klan.  People who use fear and racist violence to intimidate the voters into submission.

The idea that Black Lives Matter is, on its face a reasonable one, except as you look around it is usually voiced by a group of anarchists and Marxists (often exclusively white) who are raging against people and businesses who have no history of violence against blacks.  They will memorialize individuals whose lives have been filled with drug abuse and violence while ignoring the innocents killed within the inner cities.

Some will claim this is a social movement, but the reality of their actions is political.  The fact one political party and its group of liberal/progressive activists all refuse to condemn their violence until polling numbers suggest they should do otherwise is telling.
If we are ever to unite as a nation we need to accept that change can only come from the hearts of our citizens and with the entire history of man it is unlikely a universally agreed to answer of racial discrimination or equality will be reached anytime soon, the best we can hope for is to protect the young and the innocent and help them understand love rather than hate.

We've spent almost 60-years attempting to overcome discrimination through social welfare and social advantage programs and what has that achieved?  We have a generation of people who believe they are owed something for the wrongs done their distant ancestors and since the election of Barrack Obama, the issues of race have gone from the back burner to the front.  It looks to me we are no better off today than we were at the start of the Great Society.

We Hold These Truths to be Self Evident

On November 19th, 1863 in his dedication speech at the cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Abraham Lincoln concluded with these words, “… and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

The question we seem confronted with today is do we, as a nation, still believe we are a government for the people?

We came into being as a rebellion against the aloof government of Great Britain where we had no direct say in the laws we were expected to obey, and a King who had little interest in the colonies except as a way to reduce his debts from wars with France, both here in the colonies and in Europe.

Does our government continue to provide the natural freedoms we articulated when we declared our independence from the motherland?  Do we have life, liberty, and the chance for happiness?  It seems the answer clearly depends on what you believe are your self-interests, as well as your belief in the rhetoric of the political parties who seek the power to govern and the wealth that comes from such power.

As we separated ourselves from Great Britain it seemed most people accepted the idea of a weak central government and stronger rights of the several colonies.  When that proved unworkable, we wrote a constitution that outlined the limits of a stronger central government.  Over the years we have changed in our expectations of equality and the Constitution has changed as well.  With each President, the power of the Executive has grown and the checks of that power by the Congress and the Court have been rather an exception than a routine.

The expectations of the citizens have changed as well.  We now ask more and more of the Government, yet seem to have less and less appreciation of what those demands entail.  The politicians we elect are more than happy to play to those demands to maintain their positions of privilege. In bending every which way to meet the demands of the loudest voices do people who run our governments (local, state, and federal) remain “for the people?”

As I watch the “hands-off” approach of the Democratic party to the civil unrest, the decay of the cities, and the rhetoric of the senior leadership of the DNC about those who support the President as “domestic terrorists,” it seems obvious what people the party seeks to represent.

Then again, if we choose to talk about civility, we have the President who seems to relish the whirlwinds and dust devils he kicks up daily as he uses the office to bring attention to himself.  The question I face is what is the personal cost as I have to choose between the lesser of two evils?

Opinion: Living in Fear.

Have you looked around lately?  Somewhere over the last couple of decades, we in America have evolved from a society that believed nothing was beyond our reach to one where we are told we must live in fear.  There is so much to be afraid of I can hardly keep track of it all.  Fear is a powerful tool for those elected to office.  I imagine they live in fear of not being reelected, but they use our fears to control the dialogue and play us against one another.

Both sides do this, they just seem to play to opposing fears.

Take, for example, the COVID virus.  We are in such fear of this virus we shut down the economic engine that fuels our nation.  Historically, the role of the President has been to calm our fears and energize the nation forward, but with this President and the political opposition to him each and every statement he makes is questioned and there is little chance of finding an optimistic way forward.  While the COVID virus is more lethal than the average flu, it is certainly not as lethal as the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, which took the lives of between 50 and 100-million people (and infected roughly 1/3 of the world's population).  Because of that fear we see several political agendas being played out by the two political parties.

The fear of infection has led to the Democratic party to call for the mass distribution of mail-in ballots.  Allegedly to ensure the sick and elderly are not exposed to this deadly virus.  At the same time even, the Democratic party-controlled states are reopening stores, restaurants, and other non-essential services so people may begin to resume a (somewhat) normal life.  We expect people to minimize risk by social distancing and wearing often ineffective masks as a cosmetic acknowledgment to our concerns.

Of course, the Republicans must take the opposing view and point out the potential for voter fraud or election manipulation by those in control of the voting process as a reason this is a terrible idea.  For states who made the decision to allow mail-in voting before the pandemic you could make a sound argument this is a false flag, but NY States' recent experience with their primary elections certainly suggests a high probability of widespread problems with an impartial certification of election results.  As we saw in 2016, we’ve become a nation of sore losers so it is unlikely whoever wins the election will garner opposition support.

To keep those fears alive the Democratic party has now begun a campaign showing the President is attempting to dismantle the U.S. Post Office so people can’t vote.  Those who seek to mail in their ballots are, of course, outraged.  Those who think mail-in voting is a fraud are happy.  In the end, the truth about the Post Office and what President Trump is or isn’t doing is probably irrelevant, it is just another strategy to remove our optimism and keep us a divided and manageable population.

Of course, the Democratic party is not alone in its use of fear as a tactic to control its supporters or divide the country.  The Republican party will do the same thing.  As those on the left call for gun controls, the Republican party will invest in raising the outrage of those who believe in the right to bear arms and point out how all those on the left want to take all our guns.  Unfortunately for the Democratic party, there are enough extremists who voice this message that it carries a solid ring of truth to it.

As we look at the riots and violence (AKA Peaceful Protests) destroying so much of our major cities like Chicago, Seattle, Portland, and NYC we see the Republican’s use of that violence to claim if the Democrats win the White House, and the Congress, we will become a socialist nation and suffer the same fate as Venezuela.  The fact Democratic politicians will not condemn the violence gives some credence to that argument for most suburban and rural voters.

I think it is clearly time for the Baby Boomer generation to hand over the reins of leadership, but it doesn’t appear either party has suitable replacements, at least for this election.  So we come into this contest with a President who despite all the bad press has a track record of growing the economy and an opponent with 44+ years of being a politician who promises to fix things if elected but without much more to show for those promises. 

The talking head pundits on TV say we need to have a debate before mail-in ballots are cast, but as I look around, I’m pretty much convinced that is unnecessary.  Everyone has already decided which party they will vote for and the name on the top of the ticket is just a name.  Those who will vote for President Trump will do so despite his personal flaws, and those who will vote for Biden will do so despite his apparent failing mental capacity.

In the end, we will let the politicians and media play to our fears and we will remain divided, regardless of the soothing emotional words, the DNC puts out about how kind and gentle their candidates are.

Just An Opinion

What follows isn’t an endorsement, nor is it a condemnation.  It is simply my opinion on the choices before the nation in the upcoming election.  They may be coherent and compelling to some, and completely off-putting to others.  Be that as it may.  What got me thinking about this was President Trump's latest shot on Twitter to outrage the DNC, their media arm in the mainstream media, and a plethora of political talking/writing heads.  There is also a posting on  Althouse, talking about wokeness that ties into this whole thing.

I can think of a half dozen, or perhaps more, reasons not to vote for President Trump’s reelection.  Almost all of them center on the character of the man.  At the same time, I can’t come up with a single reason to vote for his opponent, the former Senator and Vice President, Joe Biden.  For me, this is a slightly different dynamic than we had in 2016 where both candidates carried the baggage of their negatives and for most, it required ignoring those negatives completely to vote for the party of their choice.  Predictably the votes in the urban areas went to the Democrat, and in the rural areas to the Republican.  What made The Donald’s election possible was the failure of the DNC (and candidate Clinton) to recognize how much weight his message carried for the union members who had watched their jobs go overseas for close to 30 years, and an assumption the minority voter would turn out for her as they did for President Obama.

Since his election, the President has faced a constant barrage of criticism on his handling of the job. Almost all that criticism comes from the agenda-driven opposition and is obviously politically motivated. Although the President seems to relish the attention it brings. It is as if he is the modern-day embodiment of Phineas T. Barnum.

What I see is just the natural evolution of mean-spirited political rhetoric that brought Donald Trump to the head of the GOP field and ultimately the election.  It is, again in my opinion, fueled by the meanness and self-righteousness we’ve come to expect on our social and entertainment outlets. Profanity is the new normal of our entertainment choices, and we see it play out in unwarranted outrage over even the most minor of civil conflicts.

For right or wrong President Trump now represents the status quo.  He is the embodiment of a continuation of the nation we’ve become.  His opponent is the face of a party that is willing to sacrifice all we’ve become simply to regain the power it lost with the 2016 election and partially regained in 2018.  It sees its future in the extremes of the millennials who seek to destroy our history.  A generation who has been taught that hate is okay as long as it is used for their causes. Violence to achieve those goals is the way society should be.  Lying is just a natural evolution in the transition to relative morality.  One has only to look at how the groups they hold as examples of youth involvement engage with the political realities to see this violence play out. 

Of course, the propaganda arms of the BLM and ANTIFA movements are there to persuade the population that what you see on the nightly news isn’t their fault, they are simply reacting to violence of the establishment.  It is, after all, President Trump's fault that cities that have been controlled since the 1970s by the Democrats are racist because the GOP and President Trump are fascists.