The political autopsy

- my grandpa

After a terrible defeat, political parties often have an "autopsy" to figure out what went wrong ...

More Democrats fear the party’s image isn’t just damaged – it’s broken

Some Democrats are saying the party went to far to the middle or right, with trying to win over disaffected Republicans. Some say Harris didn't try to appeal to working class and lower class voters. Etc, etc, etc.

When I think of what the Democratic party should be, I think of how it was when my grandfather was a Democrat, and what it was like when I was a kid.

Back then, the Republican party was the party of educated wealthy conservatives, business interests, with a touch of nutball (John Birch Society).

But the Democrats were for the working class, unions, the poor, women, racial minorities (civil rights) and religious minorities (Jews, Catholics). It was what they called the New Deal Coalition, and they tried to help people after the Great Depression with programs like the New Deal ...

The New Deal was a series of domestic programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, with the aim of addressing the Great Depression, which began in 1929. Roosevelt introduced the phrase upon accepting the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination, and won the election in a landslide over Herbert Hoover, whose administration was viewed by many as doing too little to help those affected. Roosevelt believed that the depression was caused by inherent market instability, and that massive government intervention was necessary to rationalize and stabilize the economy.

The Democratic party of today has changed a lot. Now we are (also) the ones affiliated with the rich, with Ivy League universities. I assume (hope) Democrats are still trying to help the poor, the elderly, the homeless, but they act as if they are ashamed of doing so, and politicians like Harris leave those groups completely out of their speeches and promises - they don't believe those people vote, and they don't want to estrange the "working middle class".

And the Democratic party has adopted stances that seem extreme to me ... why must every person who wants to liive in America be able to? We have more than 600,000 homeless people here living in terrible conditions who never get a word from Democrats (except Bernie) ... shouldn't we be helping them first?

And why does being a Democrat now mean we would rather side with Middle Eastern terrorists than with Israel?

Oh well, I'm sure there's a lot I don't understand about all this, and of course times have changed. But I just remember that I used to be proud to be a Democrat like my grnadfather. I don't feel that way anymore.