Hi,
The reason I am a Democrat is when I look at the last 100 years of US history I see the Democrats creating the conditions that took this country from a frontier town, farming and working class nation to a highly developed middle class country wealthier (if so often dumber and more selfish) than any nation before achieved. It was the Democratics' NEW DEAL that laid the interconnection between government and business that provided the deep pocket support for American business to explode after WWII. People love to scream about welfare for the poor but corporate WELFARE is never criticized. It is as if capitalists want capitalism for the middle class on down and socialism and aristocracy for the upper middle class on up! Business gets the real money it needs to do research and to cover its behind from the government. And, of course, taxes for those programs are blessed by the fundamentalist, god fearing, tax cutting, short on smarts, President we suffer under now. How did a religion about the MORALITY of helping the least among us get co-opped as image by rich and powerful, fat cat, selfish, businessmen white guys?
Democrats also laid down the GI BILL after WWII over Republican attempts to kill it as Republicans love to wrap themselves in the flag, army and god but they have no desire to send their kids to serve or to raise their class' own taxes to give the poor working class kids who DO DIE for their "loving" god and country a better education or army paycheck. If this nation gave free college education like Europe and even Argentina does, we'd have no armed forces. Sad. Sad. Your life for an education. Jungle law in a Christian's thinking! It's all talk -- talk about the most profound and CORRUPT kind of innate flip flopping as a mindset. The GI BILL took that first generation of immigrant children and kids from earlier working class immigration and gave them a college education and made the "golden age" of America that the Republicans love to wrap themselves in. It's a Democratic outfit!
Then there is civil rights in the 60's which finally ended economic slavery for African Americans, latinos and women in America and that was a Democratic led movement.
Medicare and Social Security that lifted the abandoned old of America from poverty and early death was a Democratic idea.
You can go through the whole 20th century in America and every moment when the government was used to level the playing field and create a country where wealth is more fairly shared and where the government was used to insure the full promise of the founding IDEA that is AMERICA -- equality and freedom -- you see the Democrats fighting for it and the Republicans working to kill it. I hate the idea that business philosophy is the answer for everything in life/fundamentalist theocracy the Repubs would oppress us with if they ever get more power.
Now they have saddled us with a business philosophy idea of education standards; a business idea of environmental controls; a religious idea of science; our own holy war led by only our Christian god, and a mind set defined by white kids raised in the 1960's who want to LOOK as if they live like an old movie version of the 1950's while consuming and partying with all the dumb wasteful STUFF of today inbetween prayers and hymns. And Republicans have the nerve to say that Democrats are hypocrits. Of course thinking people CHANGE THEIR MINDS AND POSITIONS as REALITY UNFOLDS. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's called thinking as opposed to mouthing ideology as Bush does. When one's mind has only beliefs and ideology and not ideas, facts and reality with which to think, then one is going to put on a great John Wayne, Clint Eastward, tough guy, holding the line performance like that snotty, smirking, condescending, judgmental. aristocratic, fratboy Bush does.
When you look at ALL of the soc/pol/eco history of the USA in the 20th century the Democrats have done the right thing by the majority of the people -- if not the popular thing with right wing, fundamentalist, anti-abortion, anti-gun control; creationism as sound science, business is all, me first and me only standards.
I only hope that this time the Nadar fools do not buy their own lunacy and chant that there is no difference between Demos and Repubs -- there is a universe of difference if you are middle class or below and just a smidge of difference if you are upper middle class on up. The rich side wins either way and always will. The lower class side ONLY wins with Demos! If you make less than 100,000 dollars a year and vote Republican you need suicide prevention care as you are self-destuctive. What really cracks me up is that Repubs are supposedly great business guys and gals and yet corporate America became a financial joke. Under Democratic leadership the economy for all always does better. If only Americans could get past their little "boutique" issues like religion, gun control and abortion and see the BIG picture. If they could a Repub couldn't get elected dogcatcher in Orange County, CA.
Bobby