Tag Archives: Democrats

The Return of the Sigh

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from wookiepedia

The galaxy is in chaos.  Political turmoil abounds.  Donkey and elephants continue their vicious fighting.  The only thing that can bring sanity to an insane world is…

No, this isn’t the opening credits to Star Wars Episode VII.  It is the introduction announcing that Political Sigh has returned.

Over the past several months we have seen an election, learned new phrases like “fiscal cliff”, and Republicans have dug their heels in to fight Democrats to the death.  Not much has changed, huh?

Political Sigh is back and better than ever.  We will be discussing some of these issues.  Together, let’s sift through the chatter to get to the point.  Let’s bring some sanity back to the political world, and perhaps poke some fun at it a little bit along the way.

No Loser in Politics

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In 2007, I worked as a consultant for the Get Out The Vote Initiative for the Bruce Lunsford-Greg Stumbo campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor. On election night in May, they lost that campaign to the now Governor Steve Beshear and his running mate.  Several other staff members and I were gathered at a nice hotel in Louisville when we heard the news that our candidate had lost the race.  A little heartbroken, we listened to Stumbo and then Lunsford give brief speeches.  They then greeted campaign workers and other people who had attended the party.  After getting a brush off from Lunsford, I was able to speak to Stumbo.  I told him that I had been forward to him being Lieutenant Governor and that I was sorry it didn’t work out.  This is what he told me:

“There are no losers in politics, son.  You may not always win, but you never lose.”

You Win

This is one quote that I have never forgotten.  Shortly after this loss, a story broke in the news about the representative from Stumbo’s home district not seeking re-election.  A few days later, Stumbo announced that he would be running for that seat. He was elected in 2008 and when he assumed office he was also elected as Kentucky Speaker of the House of Representatives.  It must be noted that Stumbo had served in that in the House from 1980-2003 and was the Majority Leader from 1985-2003 before becoming Attorney General.

The Point

You may be thinking that this is a neat story, but what’s the point.  The point is that there is a lot of good-old-boy networking in play in politics, especially on the state level.  Stumbo had a lot of caché that he could bank on, assuming his bid for lieutenant governor fell through.  In his case, he knew a lot of people and it helped him out.  Stumbo has in turn helped out Kentuckians and people of his home district as much as possible.  Stumbo knows how to play the political game, but he also knows how to bring home the bacon (so to speak) to keep his constituents happy.  Unfortunately, there are too many politicians in our country that use this good-old-boy network as an act of despotism.  In the end, it’s the politician and their friends that seem to reap all the rewards while the average person gets screwed over.  As long as there are people, like Stumbo, who use their network to do good things for their constituents, I’m usually okay with that.  But when people use it to do bad things, I don’t like it too much. What voters need to do is evaluate their elected officials. Are they doing well by the voters?  If so, then they are probably alright and doing the best they can.  If that isn’t the case, then it may be time to look elsewhere for your elected officials.

Why are Democrats Donkeys?

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Political Sigh is launching a series today that tackles the terminology and ideology that define our political structure.  The first two days will be about the Democratic Party and the Republican Party respectively.  Afterwards, we will discuss some other political philosophies that are bandied about in our political culture.  Today, let’s start with the Democratic Party.

A Brief History of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is the oldest of our political parties and one of the oldest political parties in the world (1). The party’s roots date back to the days of Thomas Jefferson, when the Democratic-Republican Party was founded to oppose the Federalist Party (2).  However, the modern party dates back to the 1830s when Martin Van Buren founded the Democratic Party.  The first president elected who was a Democrat was Andrew Jackson from Tennessee.

After a split during the Civil War into two different factions, the Democratic Party was weakened.  However, given enough time and the right people, any party can return to prominence.  That happened with the presidential election of 1932, when a Democratic president was elected by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  He was the champion of the New Deal after the economic collapse of 1929.  The New Deal focused on relief, recovery and reform: relief of unemployment and rural anguish, recovery of the economy, and reform to make sure there was never another Great Depression.  Roosevelt was also the only president in history to be elected to four terms.  After Roosevelt, there was a string of Democratic victories.  Presidents such as John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have all represented the party.

What Do Democrats Believe?

The Democratic Party was founded on a belief that people should be represented regardless of how much money is in their bank account (3).  That is the basic party platform.  But with any party there are different factions and viewpoints.

Generally, Democrats lean to the left on the political scale.

They take a center- to-left view and champion liberal viewpoints.

By taking this center-to-left view, Democrats promote funding social programs such as Welfare and Medicaid.  Democrats also tend to support raising taxes for people who are wealthy.  There is a term called “Blue Dog Democrats,” which is a branch of Democrats who typically support fiscal conservatism (meaning that they may not favor raising taxes for everyone) but are socially liberal (4).

Social issues are another thing that Democrats usually fall to the left on as well.  Democrats are generally more accepting of matters like same-sex marriage, pro-abortion rights, and equal rights for all. Topics like these are typically the ones that cause the most heated debates between Democrats and Republicans.

So What Does a Donkey Have To Do With Anything?

During the election of 1828, Andrew Jackson was the Democratic presidential nominee.  His political opponents took to calling him “jackass” as a political insult.  Highly amused, the stubborn Jackson began using the donkey as a symbol for his campaign. But it wasn’t until the 1870s that cartoonist Thomas Nast used a donkey to symbolize the Democratic Party. The symbol of the donkey has been used ever since (5).

Check back tomorrow for a look at the Republican Party.

Reference List

1)      History of the United States Democratic Party. Wikipedia.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_Democratic_Party

2)      The History of the Democratic Party. http://www.wasatchwatcher.com/history-democratic-party.html.

3)      See reference number 2.

4)      What is a Democrat? Wisegeek. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-democrat.htm

5)      Donkey and Elephant: The History of these Symbols in Politics. The Political Arena. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-democrat.htm

For more information on the Democratic Party visit: www.democrats.org