The Evolution of the Democratic Party: From Centrism to Radicalism?
Isn't it interesting that the Kennedy family is lashing out at RFK Jr. for aligning himself with Donald Trump? Besides the fact that the family is probably suffering from the condition known as TDS, they fail to reason about the situation. This is what Kerry Kennedy, RFK Jr.'s sister, said:
"I am disgusted by my brother's obscene embrace of Donald Trump. And I completely disavow and dissociate myself from Robert Kennedy Jr. and his flagrant efforts to desecrate my father's memory."
Those of us who remember the 1960s know the Kennedys were part of a Democratic Party that was relatively centrist, if not a bit to the right of center. John F. Kennedy and Bobby–RFK Jr.'s father–would be appalled at what has become of the Democratic Party.
The Party today is a radical entity that favors socialist policies, is inept in its foreign policy, has demoralized the U.S. military, supports extremist groups like Antifa and BLM, and fails to disavow a terrorist group like Hamas. In fact, a significant number support the heinous crimes committed by Hamas. Making matters worse, the Party wants to defund the police, believes in open borders, and has little respect for the Supreme Court. The Democratic Party is also okay with the suppression of the First Amendment, aiding and abetting the tech companies in silencing dissenting opinions or those aligned with Trump.
Would the Democrats of the early 60s be okay with free abortions at mobile clinics being promoted by Planned Parenthood near the DNC? Would they be OK with abortion, period? Many in the Democratic machine want abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy. Now let's see, if a 6-month fetus is aborted, what do you call that? Today, many fetuses can survive at this stage of pregnancy. You are killing a human. Even worse, killing a fetus up to birth and even just after, as some Democrats espouse, is nothing but infanticide. So, if one is okay with that, where do you stop?
This obsession with abortion is all because the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs Wade. This was deemed unconstitutional not only by the Court but also by many legal scholars. All the overturning did was put the regulation of abortion back in the hands of the states. Still, the Democrats have gone hysterical about the decision.
What does abort mean? It means to stop a pregnancy, or it could mean to stop a mission. If you can rationalize aborting a baby right up until birth, then why stop there. You can rationalize aborting someone at any stage of life. It seems some Democrats are okay with this.
How many Democrats have come out openly wishing to abort Trump? They almost got their wish on July 13. Is this the Democratic Party that RFK Jr.'s dad and uncle would revere? No way. Kennedy's siblings are delusional. You don't have to accept everything Kennedy espouses, but in the same way you don't have to take everything Trump says. Trump has shifted on some policies, such as abortion. You can accept who, on balance, brings the policies necessary to have a prosperous country and who wants to regress the country. Yes, the Democrats are the regressive Party; there's nothing progressive about them. They are also the Party that is happy with men in women's sports.
Let's go back in time and examine the Democratic Party platform in 1960, highlighting a few of its statements.
"To the rulers of the Communist World: We confidently accept your challenge to competition in every field of human effort."
"We recognize this contest as one between two radically different approaches to the meaning of life—our open society which places its highest value upon individual dignity, and your closed society in which the rights of men are sacrificed to the state."
We believe your Communist ideology to be sterile, unsound, and doomed to failure. We believe that your children will reject the intellectual prison in which you seek to confine them, and that ultimately they will choose the eternal principles of freedom."
"The new Democratic Administration will confidently proceed to unshackle American enterprise and to free American labor, industrial leadership, and capital, to create an abundance that will outstrip any other system."
"Economic growth is the means whereby we improve the American standard of living and produce added tax resources for national security and essential public services."
"The new Democratic Administration will act to make our free economy really free—free from the oppression of monopolistic power, and free from the suffocating impact of high interest rates."
"The Democratic Party affirms that every candidate for public office has a moral obligation to observe and uphold traditional American principles of decency, honesty and fair play in his campaign for election."
"We deplore efforts to divide the United States into regional, religious and ethnic groups."
"We denounce and repudiate campaign tactics that substitute smear and slander, bigotry and false accusations of bigotry, for truth and reasoned argument."
It all sounded good. While some things didn't pan out, they sounded more like today's Republican talking points. These statements and others bear little resemblance to the Democratic Party of today. It's starting to resemble the communists of the ex-Soviet Union. Is it any wonder that prominent people have left the Party?
RFK Jr. left the Party because they censored him and wouldn't give him a forum or the people a choice to evaluate his views. If someone has views that don't make sense, then the people figure it out quickly. Instead, the Democrats, along with their media friends, malign people they don't agree with as spreading disinformation. In actuality, the true disinformation spreaders are the ones accusing others of doing just that.
We also have Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party because she saw its radicalization, which no longer shared her values. Recently, the mayor of Dallas, Texas, Eric Johnson, changed his membership from Democratic to Republican. He saw what Democrat policies were doing to American cities.
We've all heard the Chinese saying, "You can't cross the same river twice." Today, the Democratic Party is not even in the same river as it was in the past.
Years ago, Ronald Reagan said, "I didn't leave the Democratic party; the Democratic Party left me." Hopefully, many Americans will do the same and leave this radical Party on November 5.
You make some good points here. (We certainly are living in interesting times!)
A note: The fact that some people in the so-called "Kennedy family" said one thing doesn't mean the whole entire-family-tree-to-every-single member is all marching in lockstep. And how does one define "the Kennedy family" anyway? Most families have members who disagree with each other profoundly about one thing or another and/or just cannot stand each other for some reason going back years & years. Don't forget, several Kennedy family members (as I recall, rather vaguely at this point, some children and some of his cousins), attended his announcement as supporters when he launched his campaign in Oakland. But of course the mainstream media isn't too interested in talking to any of them.
A small quibble….. I see the modern Democrat Party as being fascist as opposed to socialist or communist. They are wholly owned by banks, Big Pharma, Big Food, Big Tech. It doesn’t strike me that they are interested in owning the means of production. However, their cultural imperative is a form of cultural Marxism which is for the peasant class and does not affect them.