Rot Often Starts Internal

Despite what some people might think, watching the Democratic Party implode is not pleasurable.

The Founding Fathers thought it important that differing opinions should be heard and considered, which is why the country is a republic and not a true democracy. Under a true democracy the majority opinion would always rule rendering the minority opinion powerless. Under a republic, representatives are elected by districts of people which results in differing opinions and viewpoints being heard and considered.

Yes, gerrymandering of district lines to influence election outcomes has occurred and all political parties – past and present – have been guilty, but that is a discussion for another day.

For many years the two dominant political parties have been Democrat and Republican. Sadly, there are no other viable options, but two-party dominance is the way it has been almost since the country was founded.

Over the 250 years this country has existed, the major or significant political parties have included Federalist, Democratic-Republican, Democratic, Whig, short-lived National Republican, short-lived National Union, and Republican. Since the mid-1800s, Democrats and Republicans have been the two surviving parties. Over the course of time, both parties have enjoyed being the favored party, and both have suffered humbling defeats. In addition, both have evolved over the years – and those evolutions have been very apparent.

Based on old news reports, today’s Republican Party sounds much like the Democratic Party in the 1960s and 1970s, and today’s Democratic Party … that’s a different story that we are watching evolve today.

ONE day last week I was preparing dinner and picked up an onion to peel and chop. As I cut the ends off, the onion was bad in the center, from root end to stem end. There was nothing on the outside to indicate a problem.

The socialist part of today’s Democratic Party is the rot that could spell disaster for the party. Even leading Democrat strategist James Carville has recognized this and been increasingly vocal about it.

A very intelligent and well-spoken political analyst, just this week Carville called for the DSA, or Democratic Socialists of America, to drop the term Democrat from their name because of the damage it is doing to the party. Carville’s comment contained some language that cannot be published here which indicates his level of frustration. Part of that is due to some socialist candidates having polled more votes than traditional Democratic candidates in primary elections. Since then, there has been online chatter of traditional Democrat voters refusing to vote for socialist candidates, instead planning to switch and vote Republican in the General Election.

If the Democratic Party cannot rid itself of the socialist influence and agenda, the future of the party could prove difficult. This is not to suggest the Democratic Party will dissolve, but it will certainly be weakened by internal strife and could evolve into something none of us recognize.

AS 18-year olds in the 1970s, most of us registered to vote as Democrats, and Georgia solidly backed Democratic candidates.

As the party changed, most of us changed as well, No longer is Georgia solidly Democrat, and in fact is most often considered a toss-up state though leaning Republican.

The Democratic Socialists of America could force the Democratic party to change yet again and that outcome will make for interesting allies and even more interesting divisions.

It will be a fascinating ride from now until November.

That’s my opinion.

Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com