It is disturbing when one of a country’s major parties takes a radical turn, but that is what we are seeing with the Democrats this year, particularly in terms of their platform. It appears that they are bent on self-destruction, as they have committed to positions far outside of the mainstream. The party is now indistinguishable from European socialists, and has truly become a Social Democratic party. Moderate Democrats have been driven away by the “progressives,” so it is unsurprising that Republicans have reached near parity in party identification, an area where Democrats once had a commanding advantage. They produced a platform in keeping with statements in a film shown at the convention- that “The Government is the Only Thing We All Belong To.” Most of us would answer that with a resounding NO! The government belongs to US.
This kind of collectivist thinking permeates the party’s platform and the mentality of the activist left, which basically is now in control. Apart from this, the platform endorses gay marriage, late term abortion, and until pressed, left out any mention of God for the first time, as well as the status of Jerusalem as Israel’s capitol. I am not taking a position on these question here, but simply noting that they are out of step with the sentiments of a substantial portion of the population. It may be true that nobody pays attention to the platform, but it had clear consequences for the party’s presentation of itself.
In front of the country there was a voice vote taken three times on restoring God to the platform, and each time the yeas and nays were about the same, only salvaged by a chairman who ignored the lack of a 2/3 vote and declared the affirmative anyway. In a country where upwards of 80% of the population believes in God it only shows how far out of touch they are. You don’t have to be a believer to see the folly in this.
Then there was the array of speakers, with the old breathy-voiced standbys Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, as well as the blabbermouth Wasserman-Schultz, and the truly nutty Elizabeth Warren. They were joined by various starlets, and incredibly, a woman whose claim to fame is a demand that the rest of us pay for her birth control pills, who was given a prime time speaking slot. The convention came off looking like a conservative caricature of the party, and like the handiwork of someone who wanted to make the Democrats look bad. The Republicans could do worse than simply replay parts of this convention in their advertising. True some of this was offset by the relatively innocuous remarks of Presidents Clinton and Obama, whose speeches reflected very little of the underlying radicalism of the convention.
The real question is how this is going to play in Ohio. Why Ohio? Because that is where the election will be decided this year. My guess is that little of this sits well with people in there, but the question is whether they will be aware of it or not, since most people weren’t watching. Whoever carries Ohio will win. Romney could run the board of toss-up states and still lose if he doesn’t carry Ohio. Similarly, Obama’s re-election prospects dim without Ohio. So on election night when you see who carries Ohio you will know who won the election.
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