It’s amazing to watch a conversation between a liberal-minded person and conservative-minded person. They might be in the same room or on the same Internet forum but they are in orbits counter to each other around the same gravity well.

Posted by DawgMa

What it Means to be a Democrat

I’m sure that some of you believe we’re hell-bent on raising taxes, killing babies and spending like crazy. Unfortunately for you (a little anticlimatic, perhaps), that is not what the Democrat party is about. Here’s a little something I wrote a while ago, in response to a question from one of my friends about why I was a Democrat:

The question it comes down to with me, as to ‘democrat’ or ‘republican’, is this notion:

Do I believe that America is a family? That we all have stakes in each other, everyone, in our collective future?

Or do I believe that the American dream is individual? That it exists for people to get ahead, that it is Darwinian in nature? That the wealthy should be applauded over and over and the poor should be ignored?

I believe in the former, because that’s how we formed as a nation. And any time I feel myself or the country getting bogged down in technical debates about immigration or abortion of gay marriage, I take a step back and look at things as I would with my own family.

Because it all boils down to the fact that, at the very end of the declaration, all those men in that room pledged “[their] lives, [their] fortunes, and [their] sacred honor” for each other and for the future of the country.

And what kind of country are we to horde our lives, our fortunes, and our honor to ourselves? I think somewhere along the line we kind of lost that sense that we’re all in it together, no matter how much land we occupy or how big our population is, no matter how diverse we all are–we are one people, and we occupy one great land.

Now, I am no socialist sympathizer or great equalizer…
But I’m not apathetic to others, either.

George W. Bush tried to champion something called ‘compassionate conservatism’ …And I believe in that mantra…he just didn’t do a good job of fulfilling that notion…

But whatever you are, conservative or liberal, I believe you should be compassionate above all.

Because you would be nowhere without the person next to you, homeless down the block from you, or with an M-16 slung thousands of miles away.

Yeah, we’re all in it together…and if that makes me a Democrat, then I’m proud to be one.
http://itstands.blogspot.com/2008/09/what-it-means-to-be-democrat.html

Traveler

Very nice, if you were referring to people helping each other. But democrats want government to take that role, and that is where I disagree.

DawgMa

There isn’t enough consistency from the private sector to be called reliable. What about St. Luke’s Free Clinic? What about Aaron McNeil? Those are just two agencies who help the poor, and both go begging.

dixieflyersta

The Great Society, with all ots excesses, burned a generation of Americans with the entire idea of letting the gov’t try to help people. I wish donations to such groups as you mention were healthier, but the donors’ remorse or fatigue continues from the horrendously wasteful programs that simply grow and grow.
Without Lyndon Johnson, there would never have been Ronald Reagan.

Traveler

Dixie, truer words were never spoken. As for Aaron McNeil and St Luke’s I personally have given time and treasure to both, as have many, many others. They do a fantastic job. I think more people would be inclined to help if they didn’t feel overtaxed and taken advantage of when their hard-earned dollars go to those who do not work and do not deserve it. You show me people that are busting their hump to get by and I will help them any way I can. Others, not so much. And I resent having that decision taken away from me. I think people would line up to help if we hadn’t all become so accustomed to letting the government do it. The programs of the Great Society have created resentful givers and ungrateful takers.

Before I started reading HTH I was a shallow liberal. I watched CNN and pretty much accepted what I saw. Three years later, I can say I am pissed off when I see the Feds acting against the will of the people. Paying money we don’t have to undeserving ingrates. The difference is that liberals believe somehow government can be made more efficient. Conservatives believe inefficiency is a fatal characteristic of bloated government. Period.