General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWho gets to decide who isn't and is a Democrat?
Please discuss...
Thank you in advance.
sufrommich
(22,871 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)Democrat, wish they were one in the same, but they are not.
It is easy for me to do but it also causes lots of angst.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Kidding!
As has already been stated, the voter.
I am wondering if you mean, what policies constitute following the democratic party? I am not really sure what you mean
lame54
(35,326 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)Record all votes in the House and Senate, see which votes garnered majority support from Democrats and how large that majority was, and then see how individual Democrats voted. The further away they are from the majority the more likely it is they are out of step with their fellow Democrats.
djean111
(14,255 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)If you remove the quantitative analysis from the equation then you left with the proposition that every one of us is a philosopher king or queen and each of us gets to decide who is and isn't a Democrat.
djean111
(14,255 posts)R or D. Two viable choices. The rest, because of the way American politics is, are really just making a statement.
So - the votes kind of decide, but then we are constantly told if we do not vote D - no matter how we feel about the candidate - the dreaded R will win.
So - if Hillary has bought or has won the nomination, my vote for her does not mean I think she is a Democrat. It merely means that I think she is less of a Republican than the other guy.
As far as determining what voters are, the voters are all over the place - don't care, family always GOP or Dem, single issue, afraid of the other team. And many voters change how they feel about either party. Like religion, ya tend to stay with how you were brought up or how you decided when you could first vote. And now, things are so gridlocked that voting based on one issue seems futile, because it seems like once in Washington, the parties are immovable behemoths, and not very much gets done anyway.
So - no one decides who is a Democrat, really. We all snip and snipe, but I doubt that any of it has any effect on actual voting. It sure does not affect how I vote. The DNC and Big Money decide who runs for office, though, at the top.
So, yeah, we are each of us either a philosopher king or queen - or a damned sheep. And me deciding who is or is not a Democrat means nothing - only my support and my vote count.
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)favor. In fact, just saw one of them planning to do this on Reddit a couple of days ago.
So no, I would say Democrats are easily recognizable by their stand on issues.
And so are Republicans.
Gman
(24,780 posts)Ask if Hillary or Rahn Emmanuel is a Democrat. They'll say no because that's what they declared.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)Skittles
(153,193 posts)well, maybe not
cozying up with Wall Street over the people, voting for / extending sensless wars - to me, these people may call themselves Democrats but they SUCK at it
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)But I'm pretty sure she never read Catch-22, what with all the loyalty oaths and accusations.
99Forever
(14,524 posts)Peeeeeeeeeeee uuuuuuu.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)Not at all.
It's what some people do instead of posting substance.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)99Forever
(14,524 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)LOL
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I thought it was an ironic question considering your handle
come on......... its funny
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)If I thought I would be here so long I prolly would have put more time and thought into choosing my handle... I used to be a a huge Miami Dolphins fan and my handle on the long defunct Miami Herald Miami Dolphins board used to be DolfanSinceBirth...That's how I came up with my current handle...
IMHO, unless a person is a total apostate like Joe Lieberman or Zell Miller I have no problem according a person who says he or she is a Democrat the benefit of the doubt.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I was just joking around
anyway as far as your question goes
I grew up in the south and saw separate drinking fountains
Enacted by democrats of those states..... so to me the term
is rather meaningless label and transitory if you really think about it.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)IMHO, setting the bar too high comes with as many difficulties as setting the bar too low.
The D and R parties are catch all parties...The entire Constitution is set up to militate against a multi party system. They are of necessity going to attract a wide or somewhat wide spectrum of views.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)I had two semesters of southern politics in pol sci and did my final senior paper on Florida from 1944 to 1976 using a computer mainframe to access the correlation of demographic and sociological voting structures, patterns and trends..
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)1976-the present would be interesting... The Republicans control the House, the Senate, the governorship, every cabinet position, and the state Congressional delegation despite having less registered voters than the Democrats.
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)that is functionally a corporate establishment party with a a few pieces of flair to appear more catchall than is supported by reality.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)Well, one party created the Affordable Care Act, which while far from being perfect, insured millions of previously uninsured adults and also expanded Medicaid to insure previously uninsurable working class and indigent adults . So lives have been improved and saved.
One party has voted to put progressive judges on the Court so a gay guy won't be thrown in the hoosegow for giving his boyfriend a blow job or a gay gal won't be thrown in the hoosegow for going down on her girlfriend.
One party has voted to protect Medicaid and Food Stamps rather than turn them into block grant programs that would make those programs into sitting ducks to be dismantled by Republican governors and legislatures.
One party has voted to protect Medicare from Republican attempts to turn it into a voucher program that leaves our elder citizens at the mercy of the insurance companies.
In closing one party is interested in some sort of safety net and protecting the rights of the vulnerable and one party isn't.
TheKentuckian
(25,029 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)change for some. For myself, I have lived and existed as a Democrat, I plan to remain this way. The name calling and assignment by others is not acceptable. I choose Democrat, I will remain a Democrat.
pampango
(24,692 posts)Of course, we can have some "must believe" tests and some with a little "wiggle room".
Then we have to decide what a "passing score" will be. We don't want the passing grade to be too low or being a "Democrat" has no meaning. But if we put it too high there won't be enough "Democrats" to make a difference.
on edit: I just realized one of the problems with this idea. Who decides who the 'real Democrats' are who get to come up with the "real Democrat" test questions.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)Unless they are apostates like Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman who left the reservation long ago I am willing to give most folks who call themselves a Democrat the benefit of the doubt...
I used to live in FL... My Senators were Nelson and Rubio...Senator Nelson probably votes with the Democrats 80%, 90% of the time. I suspect there are folks here who would say he isn't a "true" Democrat but his votes suggest otherwise.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)As a sheep in wolves clothing hoping to sway people to their superior "reason" are not Democrats.
Example: certain people who think disability social services need to be further cut and reformed because they are entitlements, full of fraud and waste, taken advantage of by alcoholics and drug-users, and whip out the cherry-picked examples of a few high profile fraud cases as per Fox strategy knowing full well that the ramification of cutting services as a rebuke to these ambulance-chasing lawyers means indigence and dying in a ditch for all the other disabled people that receive those services and benefits.
Hope you all know who I'm talking about. I've already called them out to TPTB here, the only DU person I've ever called out as "not a Democrat", and they are still here. Regularly putting on the pose.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,714 posts)I would rather ten fraudsters get SSDI than one eligible person denied service.
daredtowork
(3,732 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I am a member of the Democratic Party because it speaks to my values.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)aspirant
(3,533 posts)and subject to removal from the Crosscheck lists?
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)aspirant
(3,533 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)aspirant
(3,533 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Hard to keep track, you must improve your DU skills.
I expect to see better in thread 7.
aspirant
(3,533 posts)Could you point out the exact past 5th thread where enough became an issue?
aspirant
(3,533 posts)"about 5 threads ago" is misleading and unproven.
Just another day in the unreal world of the GD echo chamber for you.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Did you want to ask me your question here?
I want to see 5 threads ago when enough was an issue.
Was that on the GD echo chamber or the Sanders group mini echo chamber
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Personally, I don't give a rip about what anyone calls themselves. I'm much more interested in their history, policies, how they stand on issues, and principles.
Zorra
(27,670 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,369 posts)I get to decide that I'm a Democrat.
Unless I need to get someone's approval?
So, maybe, we all get to decide.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)AgingAmerican
(12,958 posts)nt
TexasProgresive
(12,158 posts)for us it has to be saying we are members of the Democratic party. When we vote in a primary our registration card gets stamped with that party.
Now this link has at least one person who thinks they know better:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026585878
Maedhros
(10,007 posts)When it comes to traditional Democratic values, I think it's pretty easy to determine if a candidate embraces them, pays lip service to them, or rejects them - that is, if one is being honest with one's self. A great many will convince themselves that a candidate embraces Democratic values when they don't, because a great many are more interested in partisan warfare than in policy.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)who've worked inside the party and slogging it out over the years party affiliation sure as hell matters.
Exilednight
(9,359 posts)The Democratic Party has the right to kick anyone from their party if they feel that someone doesn't agree with them. Of course, this scenario will hardly ever happen since they need every vote they can get, and would be scared of alienating people.
Kber
(5,043 posts)Little known fact: I evaluate all democratic applications and approve or reject them, mostly based on my present mood.
MineralMan
(146,333 posts)Very simple.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)politics.
Or Ideology.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)In other words... Jesus.
former9thward
(32,082 posts)And that is somewhat unfortunate. I wish our parties actually enforced standards of membership closer to what they do in Europe. In Europe at least the parties stand for something. Of course I might not make the cut but I'm sure someone would take me...
rock
(13,218 posts)Surprised you didn't know that.
Bonobo
(29,257 posts)whatthehey
(3,660 posts)If person X says "I am a Democrat" and chooses to vote for Democrats, then that's identification and confirming action all sewn up.
But to the broader question of being philosophically a Democrat, there's another easy test. The party's active, locally elected delegates get to vote on a platform every 4 years.
There is not a single word in it with which I disagree. The same is unlikely to be true for many people here who take it upon themselves to determine who is a "real" Democrat. There is unlikely to be anything more official available.