My Grandfather was a Democrat in the Arizona state legislature, in the mid 20th century. He was a sharp attorney, and he had quite a bit of respect from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Had he been alive today, Sam most likely would have bolted the from the Democrat party. He probably would have become a Republican. That is what Dad has told me. His name was Sam. Sam was a family man, and I have some fond memories of him, from when I was just a toddler. Sam died in 1968 when I was just five years old.
Much of what I know of Sam is from what my Dad has told me, and through the few items, I have read in press clippings. The rest comes from my distant and foggy memories. Looking back at Sam, and comparing his morality and principles to today’s Liberal (Progressive) Democrats, I often wonder where today’s Democrats have gone wrong.
Sam cared about the little guy, an attitude that was born from Sam's own life experiences. Sam came out of the depression era, having left Oklahoma to move out west in order to seek a better life. Sam settled in Arizona. He knew through personal experience, and with perseverance, that hard work could make a man successful. This is such a novel idea for a Democrat. But then, Sam was not one of today’s Democrats.
Today’s Democrats do not subscribe to the same morals and principles that Sam lived by. Today’s Democrat seems to think that hard work, and perseverance, traits that could give a man an edge in today’s world, are wrong. Such traits, Democrats believe, could give a person an unfair advantage over someone who just aspires to go through life, just being mediocre, just to get by.
Back when Sam died, America was determined to be its best. The country was poised to land a man on the Moon. Another Democrat had envisioned this spectacular feat. That Democrat spoke of a great vision he had for America. A decade earlier, the great Democrat gave an historical and memorable speech, in which he said: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." President Kennedy said those words on, May 25, 1961. President John F. Kennedy gave that speech, not to appease the Soviet Union in the cold war, as some of his successors would do for our enemies, through their actions of appeasement.
President Kennedy had a goal. He was seeking great prestige for the United States during the cold war, not only to signal America’s willingness to keep up with the Soviet Union, but to beat the Soviets at what would become our own game.
Kennedy was one of those old-time Democrats, who had convictions and principles. He believed in, 'America First' before all others. Kennedy believed in American ingenuity, and he believed in being competitive. Kennedy believed in the greatness of the American spirit, and of the American people. Such was a far cry from what Democrats believe today. My Granddad also believed in these things.
Today, the word “Democrat” is a word that is indistinguishable from a handful of other terms that can be freely substituted in place of the word, Democrat. Terms such as Progressive, Liberal, Socialist, and Communist. Today's Democrats are collectivists. They are the champions of the immoral, the perverse and of those who, while they call themselves progressives, can just as easily label them with terms such as deviants, malcontents and outcasts. In being collectivists, the Democrats have excelled at the game of divisiveness in order to promote its own agenda. Democrats have managed to take all of the different sub groups of illicit humanity, and they have managed to convince all those different groups that Democrats are their voice, and they are their protectors from up on high, in Washington. The Democrats have formed a collective of many different groups of outcasts that the Democrats have divided from mainstream society. They are those who the Democrats have brainwashed into believing that they are the 'disenfranchised.' These groups now make up what is now the Democrat support base. The Democrat voter rolls are rife with those who believe that the Democrats are the voice of all, and those who oppose the Democrat voice, are hateful, mean-spirited, or are bigots.
The problem is that the Democrat party no longer represents the underdog. The Democrats represent the moral decay of America. The Democrats will do any and all things that they can to gain a larger voter base in an effort to hold onto the reins of power. They do this by attacking the very same virtues that offer cohesiveness and stability to a society, which is the very foundation of productivity, and of the success of a society. The Democrats support freedom of choice. However, only when that choice advances the cause of their own agenda. The Democrats support the destruction of the traditional family, by homogenizing the true family in with the alternative family, which the Democrats define as also being 'normal'. In reality, the Democrats are destroying the traditional family, to be replaced by a kind of abnormal, hybrid, pseudo-family.
The Democrats champion mediocrity in their attempt to level the playing field for all. The student with a 4.0 GPA is penalized, so that the student with just an average 2.8 GPA has an 'equal' opportunity to go to university. Forget the student who excels, because of hard work and brilliance. The slow and truant student now defines what success is. That success is measured not by how much a student has learned when he leaves high school. That success is measured by simply having a piece of paper many graduating students cannot read; a diploma. Democrats see success in what percentage of high schoolers graduate. Not whether they can read, or write.
Democrats demand this kind of success, so that the self-esteem of the lowest common denominator of a student is boosted, while the future, and the self-esteem of a truly brilliant and fine mind, from the same graduating class, is wasted and compromised to avoid any competition. Competition, according to Democrats, destroys self-esteem. The lack of competition we see in our schools will find its way into society, which will ultimately destroy a nation’s greatness. This will destroy our nation's ability to compete against the world, which in turn can alter our nation’s destiny into destiny of ruin. To a Democrat, this is his just cause, and is for the good of the American collective.
It seems that the Democrats are endeavoring to strip the gears within the drive-train of our nation's economy, through excessive spending, increased taxation, and heavy burdens upon the small business. We see increased red tape, high taxation. over regulation, and silly little laws and legislation designed to transform the workplace into a social utopia for the 'enjoyment' of the worker The Democrats do not fan the flames of commerce, as any normal patriot would. Through their policies and regulation, the Democrats are failing to nudge the workplace into productivity, which is the purpose of business in the first place. Businesses exist to produce and to turn a profit. Democrats push their policies and agenda upon business, at the expense of those who have risked their capital to make money; to be successful. The list of Democrat foibles is endless.
My Granddad Sam would be disgusted of what has become of his party. The Democrats have become a party of nosy, intrusive, bureaucrats, and politicians. Their goals are aimed to cause people to fail, and to cause them to become trapped within the system of handouts and government assistance. This helps in the Democrat's goal to keep people dependent on the government. Sprinkle into the Democrat's goal, a smidgen of fear, tossed in by the DNC talking heads, the same pundits who create the fear in the minds the entitlement-minded, which is a fear that says; "To abandon support for the Democrats will create chaos in the order of things." This strategy by the Democrats is designed to retain power, to stay in elected office, and to gain more control over their sheep. Fear produces more votes and support for the Democrats from the weak-minded.
The Democrats will do anything necessary to retain and grow their power. At the same time, the Democrats do little, if anything to advance this country. There is no vision from them, like the vision that John F. Kennedy had for the United States. John F. Kennedy was the last Democrat of any substance, or greatness to come along. There have been no others like Kennedy, in my lifetime. All Kennedy's Democrat successors have aspired to be mediocre at best, while dong all they can to knock America down, trying , at the same time, to boost the voter rolls of the Democrat party. This, at the expense of this country’s greatness.
If we go back and look at history from the end of Kennedy’s short term, through the terms of Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, this country has moved far away from its former greatness. My Granddad would be disgusted at what the Democrats have done to this country.
I believe that my Granddad Sam would have bolted the Democrat party, had he been alive today. But then , so would have anyone else who had any common sense, or any sense of decency at all. The Democrat party is not what it used to be, and never will it be again, as long as the Democrat party continues to pander to the mediocre in society. This in turn places our great nation on a path of mediocrity, just the way the Democrats like it.
Originally Published in 2003. Copyright 07/27/2010
