"Has the Democratic Party moved too far to the left?"

[kentuck]

We should address that issue before the nomination and the election, because if, God forbid, the Democrat should lose, that will be the question asked. They will say Dean was too much like McGovern. Or Kerry was a Massachusetts liberal. Or it was the "civil unions". Or it was their support for all the "minorities". Or something else.

But it is my opinion that our Party has not moved to the left enough to notice. They have yet to call for a "real" progressive tax. They have yet to call for a single-payer healthcare program, at least not from the "major" candidates. They are not going to support "gay marriages". They have not made any great reform plans for campaign financing. There are many issues that they could move to the "left" on, but they have stayed pretty close to the center, in my opinion. So, when they say the Democratic Party moved too far to left, I think we can honestly say, "No, they didn't move far enough to the left."

[onebigbadwulf]

1. I wish

If the dem party went too far left, the greens would no longer exist and we'd be one giant unbeatable party.

[LARED]

3. one giant unbeatable party.

Really?

What about all the moderate or conservative democrats out there? They are the core of the party. No?

Far too many are already teetering on the edge.

[WillyT]

4. If You Mean Conservative Democrats Like Zell Miller...

He's already left the party. He's just too lazy to file the appropriate papers.

Go caucus yourself, Zell!!!

:puke:

[LARED]

6. No

I mean moderate and conservative minded Democrats that vote.

They are the ones that make or break state and national elections. Too scare them off is done at great risk

[hippywife]

7. Ummm....

What about all the moderate or conservative democrats out there? They are the core of the party. No?

No.

[cosmicdot]

12. what would be the platform of moderate/conservative Dems out there?

using the sample examples cited ...

- healthcare
- campaign financing
- civil rights

what are the hopes and aspirations of moderate/conservative Democrats
in regards to these issues as they affect and reflect on America and all Americans?

[LARED]

20. Ok. My two cents

They have yet to call for a "real" progressive tax.

I believe moderates and conservative Democrats are more inclined to favor a combination of decreased wasteful government spending and targeted tax subsidies or increases. We already have a real progressive tax.

They have yet to call for a single-payer healthcare program,

Health care is a mess, but calling for a single-payer (ie government) systems is not going to get those in the middle on board. It will be demagogued to death by the right.

They are not going to support "gay marriages".

Democrats are split 50/50 on this issue. Most of the 50 percent are from the center or right of the party. So lets really piss them off by pushing an agenda that something like 65 to 75 percent of Amercans are against. Yeah, that will keep moderate on board .

Regarding civil rights. It is long pass due to tone this issue down. Its' not 1967 anymore and folks need to figure that out.


They have not made any great reform plans for campaign financing.

If the party moves in that direction people will expect the party to address it. Do you really think either party really wants reform? I don't and to make it worse most people don't give a rat rear end about this isssue.

All of this IMHO.

[Tinoire]

26. And those people would prefer Bush?

The core of the party is progressive but this "New Democratic" Party would rather resport to bogeyman tactics and risk beating after beating rather than admit it.

Let all the moderate or conservative democrats out there make a choice between Bush and progress instead of holding the Party hostage to their indecisiveness and teetering judgement.

[LARED]

31. Please explain how the core of the party

is progressive. I'm talking about raw numbers here. How many Democrats strongly identify with the more progressive issues?

Please correct me if I'm wrong but the way I understand the demographics is that a majority of voting Democrats consider themselves slightly left of center, not progressive.

[xchrom]

32. first of all -- does a real left leaning platform

drive anybody out of the party.
the original assertion points out how none of the major candidates has embraced true left wing proposals -- but that certainly doesn't answer the question about ''conservative and moderate'' democrats voting for a truly left-wing platform. since that would be in the eye of the beholder and the bearer of the message.
i maintain that conservative dems belong in the repuke party, first of all.
second i maintain that dems need to get control of their own message no matter how moderate, left, or right the message is. the problem dems have suffered from isn't their political platforms but allowing repukes to define them.
third try to win any national election with the hardcore dem leftys -- if that's what you want -- good luck. leftys benefit moderates and conservatives not the other way around.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

34. Exactly.

Writing off the moderates cost us the South. The Party cannot be overrun by the Far Left, or the Far Right. We have to work together.

[Zynx]

18. There aren't that many Greens out there you know.

We would be a thirty percent, very beatable party.

[SheilaT]

2. Has the Deomcratic Party moved too far to the left?

(Blinks in suprise, and walks away, shaking her head)

[HFishbine]

16. It just seems that way

in comparrison to the extreme reight wing now in power.

[srubick]

23. It is that way

The repugs have moved so far to the right they are not even in the park. If the Democrates could just find a way to portray this to the American public, I think we could stand a chance.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi SheilaT!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bleedingheart]

5. No

We are no longer the party of FDR.

We can be and should be.
We need to give people meaningful reform.

We need to preserve the social programs and move forward with far more progressive ones for our nation.

[dwckabal]

8. No, in fact

the Democratic Party has moved too far to the right. I feel that a lot of the Progressive Era causes were picked up by the Democratic Party in the Roosevelt era, and that the Democratic Party abandoned those causes during the Reagan era.

[phillybri]

9. That is such bullshit....

Our party's been moving to the right for years...

[RC]

10. No.

The falling off the right edge repugs just makes that seem so.
DU is closer to the center than bu$he and his fascist propaganda machine.

[FlaGranny]

11. No, it hasn't -

it has moved further to the right since FDR's time, I believe. It's not that they didn't move far enough to the left, it's that they have moved too far to the right. Can anyone really imagine an FDR in today's world?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. hell NO!...they need to move so far left that they can reach out and slap

Newt

[fshrink]

14. The train moves, not the platform

Might look like that because the whole spectrum moved to the right.

[Az]

15. No, and in fact

If it moves any further to the right you are going to see a mass exodus of those on the left still clinging to the party.

[cryofan]

17. Compare Dems to Europe--Dems are CONSERVATIVE, NOT LIBERAL PARTY

The Dem party is simply the the left wing of the Business/Property party. It is not a "left" party at all.

[Jacobin]

19. Dean is slightly left of Ghengis Khan and

is definitely to the right of Richard Nixon.

Red herring promulgated by Pravda.

[KG]

21. until those repook voters

finally pull their collective heads out and notice the precipitation is urine and not rainwater, not sure what can be done to halt the rightward lurch.

[ibegurpard]

22. Since when?

They've been gradually becoming more and more "centrist" to the point of reaching what the Republican Party used to be, before it was hijacked by the wingnuts. I see no evidence yet of a sea-change.

[Monte Carlo]

25. I think "left" is too gross a generalization for all the issues.

Not to antagonize you, but you can't reduce all of the views and positions on the problems and issues facing America today to a simple label without distortion. I don't think it's useful to talk about "too far left" without talking about the specifics.

[sangh0]

30. That's the point

Ignore the details in order to promote the idea that the Dems are not "left enough", all of which ignores the unasked question "Left enough for what?"

[YNGW]

27. comment

Time will tell.

:shrug:

octpitflyda

[mrgorth]

28. I would say no.

I registered as a Green in '02 and only registered as a Dem for Dean. I don't even consider myself that liberal. I just saw them as 2 sides of the same coin. IMHO, we may lose some people (DLCers) that basically want a socially moderate version of the 'thugs. Let them form their own party. We will gain for more people if we stand up for what we should be doing and WORK at it.

[rucky]

29. In Step with the Rightward Shift of the Country?

It's impossible for me to be objective about that. Since 9/11, I've moved farther to the left. I realize that's unusual, so I can't really gauge what the rest of us did.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

33. I think the problem is

that the Dems don't know where they are. You have your Far Left faction (Kucinich, etc), your center-Left mainstream (Dean, Kerry, Edwards), and you have the center-Right (Lieberman), and the Right (Zell Miller). The problem lies in that we're too fractured, and unwillingly to unite under one banner.