Why I am not a Democrat
Friday, March 2, 2001
By Jon Dougherty© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com
I keep my voting records and my political party "leanings" to myself because as a journalist, I'm supposed to keep an open mind. I do when I'm writing news stories, but my column is my haven, and it is here I will tell readers for sure: I am not a Democrat. Never will be; never could be.
Why? Are all Democrats bad people -- sick and twisted like the Clintons? Of course not, but the party philosophy itself is, and that's perhaps that's why the Democratic Party attracts people like the Clintons in the first place.
Politicians of all parties "have their moments," you might say; there is an element of dishonesty in all parties and in many politicians. But from the get-go, Democratic Party ideals about the size, form, and function of government are distasteful to me. Also, the Democratic Party is much more likely to consist of politicians who will say one thing, do another, then blame somebody else when it doesn't go right.
It's sort of like in the "Wizard of Oz," when "Oz" said to Dorothy and her friends: "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
Nowhere is this Democratic "philosophy" more at play these days than in the party's own leadership, as exhibited in a column posted on the Democratic National Committee's website by Nelson Diaz, the "Hispanic Chair of the DNC," entitled, "Why I am a Democrat."
Diaz began: "I am a Democrat because we have had a long-term commitment to the values Americans support. The Democratic Party is the champion of working Americans. Democrats have worked hard to rebuild our nation's economy. We believe in paying down the national debt, investing in education, raising the minimum wage, protecting civil rights and enforcing patients' rights, and passing real campaign finance reform."
Already I was laughing and, at times, shaking my head in disbelief that a man who supposedly has a modicum of intelligence could actually sign his name to this piece self-serving, smarmy and erroneous trash.
But, I digress. Here's more:
"Democrats created Medicare and Social Security -- and we're going to protect them. We're committed to keeping Americans safe, protecting a woman's right to choose, and fighting for a high quality education for all our children. We're leaders for a safe environment, and for fairness and inclusion for all -- whether it's in our own political process or within the global economy.
He continued:
"The Democratic Party is a party of real inclusion, a party that works together with all Americans in order to make our country and our families strong and united. By continuing our work together, Democrats will win elections and ensure that America's families win."
If you want to know "what's wrong with politics" these days, every single element is contained in Diaz's words:
For starters, it is insultingly ironic that Diaz would claim to be a member of "the party of inclusion," then dare to accept a segregated title -- "DNC Hispanic Chair." Heads up, Mr. Diaz; that ain't "inclusive," that's "divisive" and segregationist. But then, you probably prefer to be referred to as a "Hispanic-American," not just an "American," like you're a "Hispanic-Democrat."
Next, Diaz says Democrats "have had a long-term commitment to the values Americans support." Yes, that's true, if you count "Americans" who "support" unconstitutional mandates, a huge central government, and cradle-to-grave oversight of our lives. Those are the "values" that Democrats like and that's what Democrats push for and do.
Members of other parties were and are guilty of this, too, but remember, it was the Democratic Party that defended the documented, court-proven, and admitted deviance, dishonesty and debauchery of former President Clinton. And it is Democrats that most often oppose measures to protect kids from Internet pornography and entertainment industry filth while supporting their right to have access to condoms, regular sex and abortions -- all without parental notification or oversight. Some "values," Mr. Diaz.
He says that Democrats "are the champions of working Americans," yet Democratic congresses for 60 years have passed the highest level of payroll taxes Americans have ever paid in our history, during times of peace. And now that they've done that, they won't take any responsibility for it; instead, they want to hypocritically point fingers at President Bush's income tax-reduction plan as somehow "unfair" to the "working people." Please, Mr. Diaz -- what are you smoking, anyway?
Diaz says, "Democrats have worked hard to rebuild our nation's economy." No, Mr. Diaz – Democrats "have worked hard" to take from our nation's economy, via high payroll taxes, income taxes, and regulatory burdens on business and industry. The fact that our economy did so well throughout the 1990s was more due to 1980s-era tax cuts and grew in spite of all that Democrats took out of the economy. Proof? 1993 -- Democrats, under Bill Clinton, passed the largest tax increase in history. That's why government has a surplus today, Mr. Diaz -- not because of Democrats' "expert management" of the economy.
The "Hispanic Chair" also said this mouthful: "We believe in paying down the national debt, investing in education, raising the minimum wage, protecting civil rights and enforcing patients' rights, and passing real campaign finance reform."
How about a bullet-point rebuttal to Diaz:
- First, Bush's new budget pays down the national debt by $2 trillion by 2012. Democrats oppose this plan so, in essence, they are opposing paying down the debt.
- "Investing in education?" Yes, to the tune of trillions over several decades. And for that, America has the poorest test scores of any industrialized nation, some of the most violent schools, kids that don't behave and teachers that are not allowed to make them behave, and college freshmen that can't read well or write complete sentences. Yes, Democrats have sure made great strides in "education," Mr. Diaz -- like Josef Stalin made great strides in population control by killing 20 million of his own people.
- "Raising the minimum wage" is a favorite Democratic propaganda piece, but Democrats don't run businesses so it's easy for them to force small business owners on a tight budget to pay more for help. That causes small businesses to fire people and/or raise the cost of their products -- all for a wage that is still below the poverty level. What a "great" idea.
- "Protecting civil rights" is manifested in Mr. Diaz' own title as "Hispanic Chair"; what this translates into, for Democrats, is special rights for minorities only -- very unconstitutional, given our governing document's guarantee of "equal rights for all" under the law.
- "Patients' bill of rights?" Are you saying, Mr. Diaz, that patients have no rights as it is? Democrats, under Hillary Clinton, wanted to socialize one-seventh of the U.S. economy by "managing" the nations' health care. To have done so would have made health care more expensive, less responsive, and led to poorer health care. Most experts agree.
- Real "campaign finance reform," Mr. Diaz? I'll bite into this one when you and the rest of the Democrats start publicly acknowledging that Bill Clinton and Al Gore took millions in illegal campaign contributions from foreign and domestic donors, and that the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate did their best to cover it all up. I suspect I'll have to wait a long time.
Mr. Diaz also trumpeted a "woman's right to choose" to kill tens of millions of unborn children since 1973, and then claimed in his next paragraph that Democrats are "a party that works together with all Americans in order to make our country and our families strong and united?" Mr. Diaz -- how can you keep a family "strong and united" when you allow mothers to kill their unborn children before they even start a family?
Democrats: You can't live with 'em, and you can't shoot 'em.
But you can vote against them.
Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter and columnist for WorldNetDaily, and author of the special report, "Election 2000: How the Military Vote Was Suppressed."