What do Democrats stand for?

[dogday]

Markos linked to a really good article today in the Economist about the 2006 midterms, and offers a cryptic warning for the D.C. establishment (and yes, Rahm and Chuck, that means you guys, and the DCCC/DSCC):

Democrats in DC think that keeping their mouths shut and letting the country see the GOP debacle in all its glory will earn them dramatic gains. The corrosive consultants whisper in their ears that taking a strong stance will only earn them enemies, galvanize partisan Democrats to turn out. So they remain in relative silence. Heck, even admonishing Dems like Russ Feingold who have the temerity to speak out against the disaster in DC.

But silence doesn't motivate. People ARE seeing that Republicans can't govern. There's no way around that. What they AREN'T seeing is how Democrats will be any different. How they offer change.

The GOP WILL motivate its voters come November. They'll rail on abortion and gays and scary brown people crossing the southern border and how Democrats want to take their Bibles away. And their core supporters will turn out. And Democrats, unless they realize that they need to inspire, will find those huge gains will fail to materialize.

http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2006/04/what-do-democrats-stand-for.html


Also Read http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/21/13354/5314

[Mythsaje]

1. I actually expect a major push

in the month or two before the election. The less time the Repugs have to spin what the Dems have to say at this point, the better. I think it's a waiting game...don't want to tip their hand before it's time.

[B Calm]

2. When republicans ask me this question I have a short reply

Republicans = Corporate Freedom & Individual Responsibility

Democrats = Corporate Responsibility & Individual Freedom

[Mythsaje]

3. Oooh...that's a good one. n/t

[B Calm]

5. Most of the time they have no comment back!

[jwirr]

8. That is very good.

[MaggieSwanson]

11. Very good!

Mind if I use it?

:hi:

[B Calm]

17. Go for it!

[Just Me]

18. Wow! You pegged it!!!!

Powerful! TRUE!!!!

[B Calm]

19. Says it all in two short sentences!

[tomp]

4. bush entering the room? nt

[davsand]

6. The question should real what do REAL Democrats stand for?

You do realize there's a difference--right? What we have right now is bunch of "Republicrats" and they don't stand for much of anything except re-election.


Democrats, however rare they may be, stand for personal freedoms and a government that uses the people's money to help them.

Democrats stand for the ideal of equality for everyone--no matter what economic status they were born too, irrespective of their ethnicity, gender, sexuality or childbearing status.

Democrats stand for the working people of this nation. Democrats stand with the Labor Unions.


Will you do me a favor and let me know when you actually find a Democrat as I define one? Seems to me that they have become an endangered species, possibly even extinct.




Laura

[grannylib]

7. Here's what I tell people Democrats stand for:

Poison-free air
Poison-free water
Healthy environments for life (people and critters)
Affordable decent housing for all citizens
Freedom to worship as we choose, not as Falwell/Robertson tell us to
Fairness in our Citizenship Association Dues
Economic justice: living wages for work (raise minimum wage)
Health care access for all - (I like single-payer plan myself)
Excellence in public education - LEARNING not just ability to pass tests)
Support and respect for all children and families - ALL families: biological, adopted, black, white, latino, gay, straight, foster, etc.
Support for keeping government out of the most intimate and private areas of our lives: our bodies, our bedrooms, our birth control choices
Every pregnancy a planned pregnancy
Support for life after birth
Honest and fraud-free elections
Separation of powers
The Constitution

[danalytical]

9. I disagree

I think the Democrats are waging an excellent tactical polotical game right now. You know what they say, something about don't attack your enemy when he is harming himself. Well, that's actually the best thing the Dem's can do. Sit back and plan for the last few weeks before the election. They don;t want to be out there giving Republicans a chance to use them as a target, right now they are destroying themselves. Let em drown on their own, and then BANG! attack attack attack! right before the election.

[MaggieSwanson]

10. I like this bumpersticker, it's succinct:

edited to add link: http://www.pressforprogress.com/

[madison]

12. The difference is in what they deliver, not in what they promise

Those who want more killing, dying, lying, poverty and debt, will vote Republican.

Those who want sanity, safety, security, honesty, human decency and a president who respects our laws and our Constitution, will vote Democratic.

[libodem]

13. Hhumm, now *WE* are the silent majority

keeping silent and just letting the the giant Republican pirate ship run aground isn't enough?

[Zenlitened]

14. See under "Dean, Dr. Howard - recent speeches"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=995615&mesg_id=995615

:hi:

[marbuc]

15. Democrats have a big tent

From the blue dogs to the yellow dogs, most support fairness and opportunity for all.

[madison]

16. FDR said it best

Maybe President Franklin Delano Roosevelt is still the best spokesperson for what America is -- or should be -- all about, and what the Democratic Party has stood for for the past 70 years.

FDR gave this "Four Freedoms" speech to Congress on January 6, 1941, almost a year before Pearl Harbor but when World War II was already raging in Europe and Asia.

This is just the last part of that famous speech.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the 77th Congress:

I address you, the members of this new Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the union. I use the word "unprecedented" because at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today.

<big snip>

The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are:

-- Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

-- Jobs for those who can work.

-- Security for those who need it.

-- The ending of special privilege for the few.

-- The preservation of civil liberties for all.

-- The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

-- We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

-- We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care.

-- We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

-- The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

-- The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way everywhere in the world.

-- The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

-- The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

<end>

Read the full text at: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrthefourfreedoms.htm