The twelve virtues of the Democratic Party

[patoadam]

A friend of mine asked, "What does the Democratic Party stand for?"

My answer is below. I paint a rosy picture of the twelve virtues of the Democratic Party. I imply that the Republican Party must be really awful, because it has none of these virtues. Is this picture accurate? Maybe not. Like just about everyone else in the world, I am subject to confirmation bias: I tend to seek out and remember information that confirms my preexisting beliefs, and ignore evidence that contradicts my beliefs.

I plan to examine the virtues I attribute to the Democratic Party one by one in future posts, gathering evidence to see if my impressions are accurate. I encourage you to comment with evidence for or against my claims.

I should make it clear that when I talk about "The Democratic Party" or "The Republican Party", I am talking only about politicians. There are many fine people registered as Republican voters. I was one, once.

• Economic issues: The Democratic Party...
  
  
  
  1. Reduces the Federal budget deficit (as a percentage of GDP)
  2. Creates jobs and increases wages
  3. Offers universal health insurance
  4. Promotes the long-term economic interests of the American people, as opposed to the Republican party, which promotes the perceived short-term economic interests of the very rich
  
  


• Social issues: The Democratic Party...
  
  
  
  5. Reduces the abortion rate, while keeping abortion legal and available
  6. Believes in equal rights for everyone, regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference
  7. Protects the environment
  
  


• Foreign policy: The Democratic Party...
  
  
  
  8. Didn't start the last two wars
  9. Promotes democratic ideals, at home and abroad
  
  


• Issues of competence and trust: The Democratic Party...
  
  
  
  10. Tells the American people the truth
  11. Values facts over ideology when formulating policy
  12. Governs competently

The Republican Party does none of these things.

I don't think Democratic politicians have done a good job of getting their message across, and that isn't just because vastly more money is poured into Republican messaging. I bet most Democratic politicians don't even know that Democratic Presidents consistently reduce the Federal budget deficit as a percentage of GDP, while Republican Presidents consistently increase it. I bet most Democratic politicians don't even know that the abortion rate plummeted during the Clinton and Obama administrations, while declining by only a few percentage points during recent Republican administrations.

Stay tuned for future posts on these twelve topics. Please be patient; this may take me a while.

Comments

[kjn]

Seeing this as a socialistic foreigner, the only reason the Democrats looks progressive is because the Republicans have managed to push the bar so low. From my vantage point, you have one conservative (in the original sense of the term) party in the Democrats, and one unholy alliance of racists, misogynists, cleptocrats, unthinking reactionaries, and nihilists on the other (the Republicans).

[patoadam]

Yes, I can't argue with that.