Monday Special: The Moral & Patriotic Case for the Democratic Party
You may not agree with their approach, but Democrats are better-equipped and more consistent on true moral values and American patriotism than the GOP.
Since the 1980s, and certainly in my lifetime, we have seen the Republican Party openly take the mantle of moral values and American patriotism as their own. That they are the morals and patriotic party over the Democratic Party. It is a strategy that has worked over the decades-including in the 1994 Republican Revolution, and the 2010 midterm wave among other past elections. Ronald Reagan and George Bush (both Bushes) used moral values-or so-called family values-to showcase their appeal with average Americans on what they view as common and popular social values of family, life, and the pursuit of freedom, liberty, & happiness.
There have been plenty of critiques about the GOP’s economic policies domestically, as well as their recent culture warrior approach and isolationist foreign policy, but these miss one especially important critique of the Republicans and how they view these great United States. Their politics as well as their signature policies are out of sync with their proclaimed patriotism of our country’s strength and the adherence to true moral and family values.
Not to say Republican Party voters are less supportive of this country than Democratic Party voters. We all-I truly hope-should love this country and devote our lives in some capacity or another to strengthen the fabric of this extraordinary Union, commit to the promises and values we hold dearly for the past 250 or so years, and sustain the progress made in our quest to forming a More Perfect Union. Unfortunately, it is hard to say that a substantial number of Republican Party lawmakers across the country in Congress, or in the state legislatures and state governments across the 50 states that form our historic Union, believe this. It is a sad statement of what the GOP has become.
I will not go into this fear-mongering without real observations and evidence to back up what I am saying here; which I will argue in several ways. Foremost, many Republicans in the United States Congress (House & Senate) continue to defend the insurrectionists who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021, and condemn law enforcement agencies and officers who swore to protect and defend the US Constitution. When Vice President Mike Pence did his most basic job as VP under the Electoral Count Act, the insurrectionists called on him to be hanged, and Congressional Republicans criticized him for not denying the voices and votes of 81 million Americans. They still say 1/6 was a “tourist visit,” “legitimate political discourse,” “justified,” a “false flag operation” by law enforcement, and “a beautiful day.” No Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans. It was not a beautiful day. It was not a tourist visit-especially those attacked with bear spray, tear gas, flagpoles, smoke grenades, and other projectiles on that day. And no, we don’t terminate the Constitution because of those bogus lies.
But if you thought this is where the GOP diverged on morals and patriotism, you are wrong. We saw it over the years when Congressional MAGA Republicans defended the Trump Administration-the most corrupt, incompetent, and abysmal presidency we have ever seen as a country with little-to-no legislative accomplishments (nothing good at the very least), a severely mangled coronavirus pandemic response, a more polarized and divided country than ever, and a weakening of America on the domestic and foreign/global stages. We saw this in a Republican Party that instead of wanting to work together to move our country forward, wants to instead sabotage and roll back progress with 100% government obstruction, gridlock, and stonewalling; something which Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy have delivered consistently again & again. That means the American people lose and foreign adversaries win and tell the world that our country is weak and helpless. We see this in a Republican Party that says COVID-19 was manufactured by the federal government, the climate crisis is meant to force Americans into submission and subjugation, education is indoctrination, Confederates were right, the Justice Department goes after law-abiding conservatives, and National Democrats like Joe Biden and Barack Obama run a secret pizza shop-based pedophile ring.
It’s not just about what they say. It’s what they do as well. Almost every recent Republican House Speaker, and most Republican leadership members and lawmakers generally have openly violated the moral values plank they claim to embrace as a party (from adulterer Newt Gingrich, to molester Dennis Hastert, and even now with Trump sycophant Kevin McCarthy). These are not the only scandals of personal family impropriety either, from Mark Foley and Don Sherwood, to John Sweeney, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, James Comer, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and surely more. Government corruption and unethical conduct is something the GOP cannot easily shake off either over the years, whether it’s Tom DeLay, Curt Weldon, Bob New, Rick Renzi, and Duke Cunningham, or Byron Donalds, Chris Collins, and Duncan Hunter Jr. And these days apparently, it seems the GOP fully welcomes in open arms lifetime con artists and career fabricators-including George Santos, Anna Paulina Luna, and Andy Ogles.
It almost seems the Republican Party will always fail to meet its own expectations on religious faith, family values, basic morals and decency, and government ethics and transparency. Maybe Richard Nixon charted that path a long, long time ago. But not the Democratic Party.
Sure, Democrats are not alike in every way and on every policy discussion or strategic moves. And many progressives like myself would like to see the Democratic Party move further in a direction that represents the interests of working families and the middle class in contrast to the Republican Party and certain conservative neoliberal Democrats of serving powerful special interests (like Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema most notoriously during the Biden presidency). Values that not only Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren championed, but also Paul Wellstone, Russ Feingold, and Tom Harkin among many others.
But for all the disagreements we may have, our party has common values across the board. We actually love this country very much in contrary to what Republican politicians have said. It is why we want to make our great nation even better. That is at the very core of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 March on Washington speech that says regardless of race or creed, black people should have the same opportunities as whites, and a real shot at the American Dream we have all come to cherish as Americans. It is also the fabric that shaped various progressive equal rights movements over the centuries from the old time abolitionists and the Chicano leaders who worked in the agricultural sector, to Asian Americans, Native Americans and Pacific Islanders, the generations of women suffragists and women’s rights advocates, and to Harvey Milk’s campaign and the LGBTQ movement as well. It is also why we respect everyone and lift everyone up instead of pitting groups against each other based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and the rest. Even when it is difficult, we defend government ethics and transparency no matter who breaks the law or who lapses in good judgment in any way; something the GOP seems to have a hard time doing. Even if we disagree with Republicans when they’re in control, we seek to work together and find common ground for the good of this country instead of yearning for pure obstruction and failure.
We believe government should lift people up instead of dragging them down and telling them what we would like them to do. Instead of attacking fellow Americans with slanderous propaganda, filth, and poison, we engage everyone into the political process that needs a voice. Instead of restricting opportunities, we try to boost opportunities. Republicans spend more time on expanding gun access even to criminals and domestic abusers, while restricting access to reproductive access that still jeopardizes the unborn, and also becomes life threatening to the mothers at a point. Meanwhile, Democrats have gained significant traction over the past two years with the Build Back Better Agenda that lifted our country from the pandemic, grew our economy significantly, invested in struggling working families and the middle class in a real, meaningful way, made a longstanding commitment to rebuild our nation over the next several decades, brought our nation a little closer together, and strengthened our global leadership around diplomacy and peace. These policy initiatives are grounded in real morals & values where we leave no one behind, where everyone has an opportunity, where government should help people instead of hinder them, and where our government looks out for We the People instead of the special interests in Washington DC, New York, and Silicon Valley. Build Back Better is not done. There is still much more work to do, but it is working. And it gets us closer to that Progressive Promise for a More Perfect Union that FDR, Truman, JFK, and LBJ all envisioned for our great nation.
Finally, and most importantly, we believe our country is not only the greatest in the world on the domestic front, but we also see our United States as a role model and leader for democracies and republics all around the globe. That is the kind of confidence and determination Democrats have always had from the League of Nations to the United Nations. From the New Deal and the Fair Deal, to the New Frontier, and the Great Society. Even to Obama’s presidency and Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda today. We persevere and we persist for a better nation and a better world. Make no mistake about it. Unlike Republicans, Democrats highly disagree that our Union should be more like that of Russia, China, North Korea, Brazil, and Hungary. That they are role models for us the same way they are for MAGA conservatives. If anything, it should be the reverse. Those nations should look up to us and everything the United States stands for as a country.
And that’s what we should think about as we celebrate this upcoming Fourth of July. “Who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going.” FDR, LBJ, JFK, and many other leaders knew this story well.
Full Disclosure: On my upcoming late Saturday newsletter, I will be taking a break from national politics to discuss some local events for those interested.