Member-only story
Just what is the Democratic party?
The party is not some cabal that controls who gets elected and who doesn’t
I recently wrote a post discussing the potential harm a Tulsi Gabbard Presidential candidacy could do to the Democratic party if she and her supporters behaved the way Bernie and his supporters behaved in 2016. Russell Meyers and others criticized the post for focusing on the damage her candidacy could do to the party, and not arguing for a progressive candidate to lead the party. These criticisms and others led me to ask, just what is the Democratic party?
I have spent most of my life involved in the Democratic party. Most of my efforts have gone unrewarded. The party has broken my heart more times than it has thrilled me. But that has not stopped me from continuing to support it.
Why do I do so? Well for starters, unlike in other countries where parties are bound together by deep philosophical ties, our parties are part of the process. The two-party process dates back almost to the founding of our country. You may recall that George Washington, in…
