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Saturday, February 25, 2017

The Race For DNC Chairman

The Democrats are picking their new party chairman today.  Their meeting began with the DNC rejecting a move to limit lobbying by big corporations.  No matter what words come out of the mouths of the Democrats, they remain the willing servants of those with big bucks, whatever the source.  After making their allegiance to the lobbyists and the big donors clear, the Dems moved on to the selection of the party's new leader.  There are many choices.  There's a far left Moslem.  There's a far left Hispanic.  There's a far left woman of color.  There was a far left gay from Indiana, but he's withdrawn.  There's a few more, but they're all far left.

It's amazing to watch the Dems move further towards the positions that have cost them so much support across America over the last eight years.  For me, that move is rather bizarre.  I have always thought of the Democrats as practical politicians for whom winning was the most important thing.  Now, they are moving instead towards ideological purity and taking steps that will drive millions of voters away from rather than towards the party.  They actually seem to be ceding the middle of the political spectrum to the GOP.

Something similar is happening in the UK.  There, the Labour Party has a leader for whom old style Socialist solidarity is more important than victory.  The result the other day was that Labour lost a seat that it had held for 80 years, a feat that no one thought possible.  Labour may go down the drain as a party, but they will do so with ideological purity as their watchword.

Is that what is happening to the Democrats?  Are they really going to give President Trump such an open field on so many issues?  We already have watched them announce outrage at the idea of deporting illegal aliens who are felons convicted of crimes.  That may play well in Hollywood or on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but millions of Americans look at that position as demented.  Remember, this is not a question about deporting people who came her as children; we are talking about convicted criminals.  The Democrats are doing the same when it comes to education.  It may be true that the teachers' unions are the biggest single contributor to the Democrat party.  Still, it seems strange that the party has chosen to side with the teachers and against the poor children in public schools who are getting substandard educations.  When the GOP comes forward with a plan to offer better educations for all, it is not a wise choice to side with the teachers who may see their job security or pensions affected by that move.  There are millions more parents with children needing educations than there are teachers.

The reality is that today's choice by the Democrats is really a selection of the person who will do the least damage to the party's chances.  No matter which one is picked, it will be a net negative with the American people.  Sure, the most likely winner right now has past filled with associations with harshly racist and anti-Semitic bigots.  Indeed, he has even been endorsed by a Ku Klux Klan leader.  His selection would be an outrage.  But we will soon see if the Democrats have changed from a political party to a suicide pact.

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