The End of the Democrat Party

 **This blog entry was written previously and is being reposted here.  I will post all of my previous articles here as a method to consolidate all articles in one location**

I have been reading about the GOP and its demise as a result of the Tea Party.  I am not going to address the concerns and analysis that people have and will make about the Republican Party.  What people aren’t talking about is the demise of the Democrat party.

Let’s look at some of the real issues that the Democrats must face.  One of the realities of this election is that there is no longer a moderate wing within the Democrat party.  The base of the Democrat party is an amalgam of special identity interests; Blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals, unions, feminists, Jews, socialists (in the sense of wanting government versus private solutions) and those that are sympathetic to those interests.  The problem for the Democrats is that many of the party constituencies are in conflict with one another. These conflicts cannot easily be reconciled and will continue to cause fissures within the Democrat coalition.  At some point these cracks will open up into chasms. 

A few examples of these differences:

In order to court the Hispanic vote Democrats demonstrate in their rhetoric that they are in favor of comprehensive immigration reform.  This is a direct assault on the interests of the unions since it would create a huge number of workers willing to work for less than union wage and, at least in the short term, put all unions at a disadvantage in the employment market.   You would think that Unions would take a position against “Comprehensive Immigration Reform.”  Union members, on whom democrats depend for votes should eventually come to grips with this conflict and demand that union leadership cease supporting politicians whose positions are in direct conflict with union interests.

Democrats are liberal on social issues.  On abortion, the party has taken a position of abortion on demand with no restriction, they are joined on this position by feminists; this despite the fact that only 24% of people believe that.  The Majority of Americans believe that abortion should either be illegal (19%) or legal only under a few circumstances (37%).  But, Hispanics are, in general, very socially conservative and don’t support abortion.  Hispanics have been deceived either by the party as a whole or by individual politicians that the democrat party is pro-life.   As demonstrated by the fight leading up to the healthcare debate, pro-life democrats are not only rare they are practically extinct in the Democrat party.

On gay marriage Democrats strongly favor the idea, while blacks appear to be firmly against it.  In 2008, Blacks voted for Proposition 8 by a margin of 69% to 31% in California.   Nationwide this margin is probably reflective of Blacks and Hispanics.  Yet both groups are nearly monolithic in their voting habits.
Democrats will soon find themselves in an untenable position. As they drift further and further to the ideological left, there are less and less constituencies which they can court in order to stay in power. 

According to polls (here, here, here) between 19-33% of people identify themselves as liberal.  And even though more people claim to be Democrats than identify as liberals, eventually those that consider themselves “moderate” Democrats will start to look for a new home.

When you break down the Democrat Party you begin to see the Balkanization within.  The Democrat Party is nothing more than a hodge-podge of separate groups with distinct interests.  When viewed as a percentage of larger groups of people or populations the fissures in the Democrat party become clearer.   And people will begin to ask themselves why the party is allowing these relatively small groups of people to drive the policy agenda of the Democrats and national conversation. Examples follow:

Union members make up 12.3% of the overall workforce; but with the advantage of mandatory union dues, they are able to exert an inordinate amount of influence on the electoral process.

Gays/Lesbians are usually estimated to be about 2.9% of the population and may be as high as 8% yet there is an inordinate amount of attention in the media and in the social culture addressing their concerns.  Gay marriage, non-discrimination laws, etc…   Politicians have allowed themselves and the agenda of the Democrat party to be dominated by this special interest group.

Blacks make up about 12.9% of the population.  Hispanics/Latinos make up about 15.8%.  Both these groups have been taken for granted by the Democrat party.  Most of the social programs advocated by democrat party affect these two groups in particular, and neither groups sees the subtle yet devastating damage programs like welfare,  food stamps among others, have on their communities, and continue to almost monolithically vote Democrat.

There are somewhere between 5 and 6.5 million Jews in the US which is about 2% of the population in the US, and as a group they almost always vote Democrat.  This  in spite of the fact that in terms of Israel Republicans are more staunch supporters of Israel and policies that would ensure the survival of the Jewish state.

The Democrat Party has turned its back on many within its party.   Pro-life men and women, white Christian men, white working class, small business owners, and seniors have all been cut loose by Democrats.  Democrats don’t have answers for how they will solve the problems or issues Americans face today.  Democrats of all types will soon find that the Democrat Party does not offer to them of vision of the future that they can or will support.

Most democrats today still have a vision the Democrat party as the party of JFK.  The truth is that JFK would be ostracized from the party if he were alive today.   JFK believed in lower taxes as a way to stimulate and grow the economy and began proposing tax cuts as early as 1962.  The tax cuts were passed and the results were exactly as expected, the economy grew and revenues increased. JFK also believed in a strong national defense, and believed that the US should take a stand against despotism and supporting pro-west governments (he began to increase the amount of advisors to Vietnam and formed the Formation of Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) by 1961). None of these are positions embraced by the Democrat Party.

We must not look at the Tea Party as a refuge for only disgruntled Republicans; it is also a voice for disgruntled Democrats that are frustrated with the increasingly left wing/socialist agenda of the Democrat party.  Conservatives must take this opportunity to reach out to these constituencies and offer them a positive alternative to more taxation, government intrusion, and socialist policies.  Republicans must endeavor to incorporate the fiscally conservative wing of the electorate that identifies itself as Democrat.  But more importantly conservatives must reach out with a real message and follow through on the small-government, lower-taxes agenda that it advocates.  Republicans may never win over the people in this country that identify themselves as liberal, but they have a great shot of reaching the large middle of those that identify themselves as moderate.

The Tea-party is a manifestation of people who have begun to open their eyes and don’t like seeing their country transformed into a European socialist state.  They have rejected the left’s agenda and will no longer take politicians at their word.  Blue Dog Democrats were devastated in the election, and those that survived cannot afford to move left.  Democrats, with few exceptions, ran to the right in these elections; except for those in bluest of blue districts, there will be no second chance in 2012.  The Democrat party has shut the door on a great swath of the American electorate; Republicans must pounce on these voters to advance the agenda of fiscal sanity and the government our founding fathers envisioned.