Why are you a Democrat?

Interesting way to phrase the question (6.00 / 4)

I got into supporting Dem candidates because I felt like if I didn't (along with many others), the party would continue to move away from things I supported.

The Dem party is a tool, a vessel, an institution. Its actual ideology is made up of the concerns of the people who "inhabit" it.

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by: Charley on the MTA @ Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 20:10:21 PM CDT

Exactly (0.00 / 0)

I'm for A, B, C, D, and E... and in the late 1990s, that's why I was a Green, not a Democrat.  What made me decide to be a Democrat was the Dean movement in 2003/04, which opened the possibility of joining with a huge mass of people around the country to push for progressive reforms, and that was happening in the Democratic party, which in the meantime, the Green party was making itself less and less effective.

When I chose to be a Democrat, it still remained true that the Green party took stronger positions on those issues than the Democrats in general, positions closer to my views.  But party positions don't mean all that much, and candidates vary - and are influenced by who supports them.  Political parties are ways to organize with other people, they're tools.  I made the switch to what I saw becoming a more effective tool.

So, I think your question kind of misses the point.  Don't look at political parties as fixed menus of issue positions and pick the one with the most checkboxes for you.  Think about what party gives you the most effective opportunity to connect with other people and make change in the direction you'd like.  Forget their end positions, BTW - it's the direction and effectiveness that matter.

I'm a Democrat because I think it's the party through which we're best able to nudge the country along in the direction I want, at this time.

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by: Cos @ Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 00:15:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

If all I were going to do is vote... (6.00 / 1)

...I could easily imagine myself unenrolled.  However, I wanted to be more active and figured I only had two realistic choices.  Of those I agree with the Democratic Party more than the Republican.

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by: Christopher @ Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 21:00:12 PM CDT

I am a Democrat (6.00 / 2)

because I always found the Democratic Party to value people. Our party believes in fairness and opportunity for all. We believe that every walk of life in this country plays an important role in making this a proud and beautiful nation.

I found the Republican party to be the party that valued money.  All things are expendable if one can make money. They value money over the care and safety of people, the environment, and well being of our standing in the world.

It was such an easy choice.  


"Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."
-President Lincoln

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by: liveandletlive @ Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 21:46:49 PM CDT

you left one out! (0.00 / 0)

A, B, C and E

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere- MLK, letter from a Birmingham jail

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by: davesoko @ Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 22:41:49 PM CDT

OOPS! (0.00 / 0)

If you would choose A, B, C & E, please denote it in a seperate comment. Sorry.

Sincerely,
Wayne Wilson
Roslindale

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by: warrior02131 @ Sat Mar 20, 2010 at 23:05:35 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Actually, there are 6 that were left out (0.00 / 0)

BCD
BCE
BDE
CDE
ABCE
ABDE

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by: jkw @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 11:51:21 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

OOPS again! (0.00 / 0)

The next time I create a poll, I will make less choices available. I do apologize for the omission. And I didn't mean to exclude core principles of the Democratic Party, I just wanted to know how important these particular issues are to the users of BMG.

How's that?

Sincerely,
Wayne J. Wilson, Jr.
Roslindale

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by: warrior02131 @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 22:49:43 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I'm not (6.00 / 1)

I support Democrats because they are almost always the lesser of the two evils I get to choose from. What liveandletlive said about the Party valuing people more than money is generally true, at least in its rhetoric. (Of course if made to address the question directly, Republicans will also claim to value people more than money, but their polices put the lie to that.)

My problem with Democrats is that they so often sacrifice their supposed principles. Voting for the Iraq invasion. Failing to support single-payer. Not holding torturers responsible. Shielding the abusers of human rights from lawsuits. Failure to repeal the PATRIOT Act. Continuing rendition, wiretapping Americans, and the deregulation of the financial industry. Rewarding the very companies and people who caused the financial crisis, while effectively ignoring those who suffer most because of it.

If Democrats would actually follow through on even most of their promises, I would have no qualms about being one of them, as I once was.

Shoe bomber, underwear bomber -- why aren't we waging war on clothes?

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by: kirth @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 08:46:34 AM CDT

None of the above: (6.00 / 4)

Fundamentally I believe in improving the human condition, being part of a longline of progressives.  From the Puritans (relative to their era), to the founding fathers, to the abolitionist (many who evolved into the most progressive party in the 19th century--the Republican Party), to union activist/new deal era to civil rights.

I side with those moving society ahead and right now, in the era we are in, that means I'm a liberal Democrat.  


We have met the enemy and he is us.

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by: Pogo @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 08:59:22 AM CDT

Reflects my intellect, values, and moral principles (5.67 / 3)

I am a Democrat because, for my entire life, the Democratic Party has always landed either on the same position as me or, from time to time, on a position that is at least reasonable and reasonably defensible, even if different from my own.

The Republican party, during that same lifetime, has relentlessly and virtually without exception reflected the most ignorant, most selfish, and — yes — most corrupt and immoral "principles" extant in our society.

Yes, the Vietnam war was immoral. LBJ recognized his error and stepped down. That was the most honorable way to atone for a horrible moral error. That behavior stands in stark contrast to Richard Nixon. In my view, the same pattern emerges on virtually every public policy question of substance, from the most abstract and far-reaching (abortion rights, civil rights, war and peace) to the most concrete and narrow (Ted Stephen's bridge to nowhere, the outrageous hypocrisy of Bob Livingston, Newt Gingrich, Ken Starr, and so on).

I understand that each side has its outliers. I was appalled by the behavior of Ted Kennedy at and after Chappaquidick, and I believe that moral failure had a devastating effect on the rest of his career and on America. As effective as he was in his later years, I believe that Chappaquidick significantly restrained, perhaps even derailed, the contributions that we progressives could have made to America. The other huge impact was, of course, the assassinations of JFK, RFK, and MLK.

In my view, the fundamental ideology of the modern GOP has always been without foundation. It has always been, and continues to be, the essentially religious claim that unmitigated selfishness and greed somehow magically results in a better outcome for all, coupled with the second essentially religious claim that God has blessed this mythology.

The generation of my grandparents showed us, during the Great Depression, the second World War, the Marshall Plan, and the period of American dominance through the sixties, the promise and fruits of progressive ideals.

It saddens me that the Post-Reagan conservative era, from the despicable role played by GOP operatives in the Iranian hostage crisis, through the illegal Contra War, to the catastrophic collapse of the economy in George Bush's Great Recession, has shown us the utter depravity of the ideology of the modern GOP.

That's why I'm proud to be a Democrat.


"If the Republicans will stop lying about the Democrats, the Democrats will stop telling the truth about the Republicans" -- Adlai Stevenson

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by: BrooklineTom @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 11:30:38 AM CDT

I spent most of my 40 year voting life (0.00 / 0)

as an independent or undeclared voter, even though I was a pretty reliable Democratic voter. I often voted Republican in local, town elections, but Democratic for State and Federal races. I switched to Democratic because, since the Dukakis Presidential run, I have become increasingly upset by the coarsening of the conservative Republican hostility to any and all things Democratic, and decided to wear party allegiance as a badge of honor, rather than a political choice to be hidden.

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by: af @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 14:32:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Wrong poll (6.00 / 3)

Next time use check boxes and let people check the ones they want... much easier and it allows you to list more items.

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by: stomv @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 11:42:06 AM CDT

Why I Am Not A Democrat (1.33 / 3)

A. I believe that having a baby is a decision between the lady and man involved. If that makes me pro-choice, oh well. Stereotype me, I've noticed democrats like to stereotype.
B. I believe in equal marriage rights. When do I get some? Being a heterosexual disabled male on Medicare? I had to get a divorce to stay alive.
C. I believe in unions. But Gov. Patrick is personally putting the SEIU out of business.
D. I believe in the death penalty. Some crimes are just so heinous, the perpetrator doesn't deserve to live.
E. I believe in environmental protection, but I just flat out can't afford it.

Sincerely submitted

billxi, Republican

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by: billxi @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 14:35:13 PM CDT

Your poll was too limited - I can't vote my values (0.00 / 0)

Core values of the Democratic party like access to justice and economic justice were left out, for example.


Deborah Sirotkin Butler
AmberPaw dot @aol.com

"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
Proverb

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by: AmberPaw @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 15:26:48 PM CDT

The luck factor (0.00 / 0)

The main thing that it comes down to is the relative emphasis I place on how much luck versus effort helps determine life outcomes. Early on in my life I used to think personal effort was more important and I was a Republican. After thinking about things more I came to realize that luck plays much more of a role than I did before, and now I'm a Democrat. I think a preferential option for the poor is a basic moral principle, in large part because (generally) luck plays more of a role in determining whether someone is poor than true "merit" factors.  

Ultimately, I think that's the fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives generally, rather than any one specific issue. I think most of us agree that people's outcomes in life is determined by a mix of luck and effort, but where you place the most emphasis will help determine on which side of the political divide you stand.

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by: Hoyapaul @ Sun Mar 21, 2010 at 16:31:26 PM CDT

Language barrier (0.00 / 0)

One principle at first glance I am all of the above yet I no longer support the democrats.
Pro choice, no problem with that one

Equal marriage. OK I agree but the efforts to perpetuate sexual tensions via the snot left think tanks turn me off. They seek to socially engineer entire generations by PC thought police.  They normalize the attachment of racist to things totally unrelated to race I do not approve and think that real understanding comes better and more permanent by using means other than forcing people through compliance at gunpoint.  The state is not my mother.  The state neither raise my kids nor take over my parents in their elder years.

Pro union?  What is union?  What is job?  What is industry?

Death penalty  Ya, well for normal people sure but not for the sociopathic globalist parasites who currently run the world.

I am for enviornmental protections Well sure, who would not be but yet again when it involves killing people off for world dominance, profit margins and the orgasm sociopathic control freaks get out of it such things become the technologies of the anti-christ.  Lying to people about CO2 cause you want to form the Bernie Madoff global carbon swindle bank does not qualify as a touchy feelie Kumbaya progressive egalitarian agenda does it.
It also has criminally focused millions of other enviornmental effortss on the sole aspect of carbon trading.  How pissed am I at that?  See death penalty above.

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by: Lasthorseman @ Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 19:01:35 PM CDT