According to Will Rogers (and others), we are not an organized political party. The "big tent"

[T Wolf]

approach also pushes the view that many / most / all? perspectives are valid among Democrats.

So, can I be a Democrat if I believe...

1) the war against Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. is good.

2) the death penalty is good.

3) universal government-run single-payer health care is wrong.

4) marriage is only valid between a man and a woman.

5) the capitalist system we have is basically OK - it just needs some minor tweaks.

6) there should be no/few limits on Americans owning weapons.

7) investigations of the Bushistas is not productive and would only hurt the chances for fixing things (assuming that things need to be fixed).

8) political considerations should be important factors in policy decisions (e.g., only try to enact legislation that has a chance of passage).

9) political considerations should be the major factor in electoral decisions (e.g., it is better to have a DINO in office than run a wild-eyed radical leftist and risk losing the seat to a rethug).

10) people are always more important than animals and support for animal rights is not valid (e.g., hunting for sport is OK, even noble).

11) the tax structure needs to be revised to lower overall taxes and eliminate the Estate tax.

12) Israel is America's best friend in the Middle East and must be defended at all costs.

13) unions have outlived their usefulness and are now corrupt and negative.



Each one of these positions has been articulated by "good Democrats" here without the individual being (universally) considered to be a traitor to the party.

My question is - what is a Democrat?

[ShortnFiery]

1. Just perhaps, if the GOP goes extinct, we can branch off into

Third Way (Blue Dogs) vs. Social Democrats (Progressives).

Where have all the moderate republicans gone? To The Democratic Party within the DLC and Third Way.

The forgoing could easily resemble what WERE the Republican and Democratic parties of the 1970s. :shrug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. I'm a lesser of two evils Democrat.

Political parties are the means to an end, or any number of ends. At best, they serve the purpose of focusing the concerns of a number of people who desire certain ends. At worst, they offer a vehicle for ambitious, frequently unscrupulous, people to attain power. I registered as a Democrat in 1965 and usually vote for the Democratic candidate as "the lesser of two evils". On very rare occasions, I have voted for the Democratic candidate, because I agreed with him/her on most issues. Usually, I hold my nose and vote against the Republican candidate. On a few occasions, when the candidate run by the Democrats insulted my nose to a high enough degree I have voted 3rd Party without compunction.

I would much rather consider myself "a free moral agent", as Thomas Jefferson put it in the quote below, than a "good" Democrat.

"I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all." --Thomas Jefferson to Francis Hopkinson, 1789.

"Were parties here divided merely by a greediness for office,...to take a part with either would be unworthy of a reasonable or moral man." --Thomas Jefferson to William Branch Giles, 1795.

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost." --John Quincy Adams

[surrealAmerican]

3. There are plenty of Democrats who would agree ...

... with one or two of your statements, but none who would agree with all of them.

In some ways the disunity of the party is our greatest weakness, in other ways it's our greatest strength.