<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hobson:
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rockstar:
The BOTTOM LINE here is that the Republican Party has grown extremely
conservative.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hey rockstar, I appreciate your efforts and while I’m voting for Ralph, who is unfortunately the most tedious public speaker in the world, I’m secretly rooting for Gore. But I just don’t buy your New Democrat line. It’s just code for the process in which the D-party is moving steadily to the right, adopting more and more Republican-type positions. Heck, one of the several reasons the Repubs hate Clinton so much is that he keeps stealing their material! I’m thinking of welfare reform, reduction of the federal gov’t, and stuff like that bizarre Defense of Marriage Act that he supported (I keep asking my gay/lesbian pals when and how they plan to destroy my marriage, but they promise me that their insidious attack will be a surprise one). And as to your argument that the Republicans won’t play fair in Congress, I’d bet that the Dems on the federal debate commission fully cooperated in keeping Nader and Buchanan out of the presidential debates(correct me if I’m wrong on this) - doesn’t seem much like sharing, does it? The further to the right everyone shifts, the fewer choices we’ll have in future elections, and the political discourse will become dangerously narrow. So, if your party won’t allow a multi-party electoral system, can’t you guys at least resurrect some of those Old Democrats? 
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Hi there! Thanks so much for reading it! I have a lot to say about these things, (if that is not obvious by now than it sure will be in just a moment)! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
No, I will not deny that the dems played just as big a role as the repubs in keeping buchanan and nader out of the debates. However, I don't really understand how that relates to the repubs not playing fair in congress. I guess I could link them because it is all based on the same bad principle of keeping those against you out of the game entirely. I, unfortunately, don't really know what to say on that one... only that it seems a lot worse to have the congresisonal repubs overlook and completely ignore the congresisonal democrats (who represent such a large portion of the american public) than to have both parties shut out the green party and the reform parties... two parties that collectivelly encapsulate such a small percentage of the american public... not a great argument... I know!
Now... onto the whole New Democrat thing. I don't want to write and write and write like I did before... so please allow me to direct you to a few quotes and websites that basically sum up how the New Dems came into existance, where they are taking the Democratic Party, and how they fit into the politcal spectrum.
And before I do all of that, I would just like to say that I think the most beautiful aspect of my party is that it is so diverse… going from the most liberal (Senators Paul Wellstone and Ted Kennedy and Congresswoman Maxine Waters) to the most conservative (Senators Joe Lieberman and Diane Feinstein, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, etc). Where as the Republican leaders (like haster, armey, and delay)mostly all come from one spot on the political spectrum (hard right), Domocratic leaders like Gephardt and Gore and Clinton and Rangle and Bonior come from all sorts of differect perspectives. We represent so many points of views and ideas… it is our best aspect… but the most detrimental aspect too… party unification is a huge problem. Nonetheless, we are all of us proud Democrats… with the same bedrock Democratic values.
Ok… so, ANYWAY…
- here is a quote from the Democratic Leadership Council’s website (the DLC heads the “New Democrat Movement”) http://www.dlcppi.org
"The Democratic Leadership Council is an idea center, catalyst, and national voice for a reform movement that is reshaping American politics by moving it beyond the old left-right debate. Under the leadership of co-founder and President Al From, the DLC seeks to define and galvanize popular support for a new public philosophy built on progressive ideals, mainstream values, and innovative, non bureaucratic, market-based solutions. At its heart are three principles: promoting opportunity for all; demanding responsibility from everyone; and fostering a new sense of community.
Since its inception, the DLC has championed policies from spurring private sector economic growth, fiscal discipline and community policing to work based welfare reform, expanded international trade, and national service.
Throughout the 90’s, innovative, New Democrat policies implemented by former DLC Chairman President Bill Clinton have helped produce the longest period of sustained economic growth in our history, the lowest unemployment in a generation, 22 million new jobs, cut the welfare rolls in half, reduced the crime rate for seven straight years, balanced the budget and streamlined the federal bureaucracy to its smallest size since the Kennedy administration.
Now, with the help of Chairman Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT), the DLC is promoting new ideas – such as a second generation of environmental protection and new economy and technology development strategies – at the local, state, and national levels, working through a national network of reformers and practitioners, and offering an approach to governing that is distinctly different from traditional liberalism and conservatism to build the next generation of America’s leaders. "
I would suggest that everyone on this thread take a look at a October, 1999 speech that Bill Clinton gave at a fundraising dinner held by an organization (the New Democrat Network) that I worked… it was not only a good speech but it REALLY addresses so many of the issues and perspectives that have been brought up so far on this thread… summing up a lot…
The whole speech is located here: http://www2.newdem.org/news/10071999.shtml
And here is an important part of that speech (taken somewhat out of context… so I really urge you to look at the whole thing):
"I just want to make a few points as we look to that future. First of all, in 1992, when I went out to the people in New Hampshire and all these other states and into the country, and asked then-Senator Gore to join me, and we said, look, we’ve got this vision of America in the 21st century, we want this to be a country where everybody who is responsible enough to work for it has opportunity, where no matter how diverse we get, we’re still coming together in one community, where we’re still the world’s leading force for peace and freedom and prosperity.
We want to take this opportunity, responsibility, community agenda and come up with concrete policies and ideas to get the economy moving again, to bring the crime rate down, to bring the welfare rolls down, to empower poor people, to get more young people into college, to raise the standards of our schools and have more choice and competition there.
We’ve got some ideas. Give us a chance. And all we were doing is making an argument. And against our argument, what the Republicans said was what they’ve been saying about Democrats for 30 years – you know, they’re too liberal, you can’t trust them with your money, they’ll raise your taxes, they never met a government program they didn’t like, they sleep next to a bureaucratic pile of rules at night, you know, they wouldn’t defend the country if their life depended on it. You know, you’ve heard all that stuff.
They had this sort of cardboard cutout image of Democrats that they tried to paste on every candidate’s face at election time. But all we had was an argument. And things were sufficiently bad in this country, the economy was in terrible shape, the society was divided, the crime rate and the welfare rolls were exploding, and people decided to take a chance on the argument.
And then we set about trying to turn this country around and make some very tough decisions. And some of our members paid very dearly for it for the '93 economic plan, to turn this country around, for voting for the Brady Bill and the crime bill, to bring the crime rate down. They paid dearly. But we kept chugging along.
And about four years later, the people decided to give us a – they renewed our lease because they could feel things were beginning to change. And then in ‘98, we had an historic victory in the congressional elections because we had an agenda to keep building on. We said, now give us a chance to save Social Security and pass a patients’ bill of rights and build and modernize schools. Give us a chance to do some things that will really make a difference here."
I, personally, am a New Democrat because I see their philosphy as the only one that will get anything done in poltics and result in meaningful, non-partisan legislation. It’s not necesarily that I am not a good ol’ liberal at heart who screams “tax em’, tax em, tax em’” and who wants to see every citizen of this country have a good and decent life… because I AM one of those people… but, alas, the people on the extremes don’t tend to get very far and I see the centrist path as the one that is, ultimately, more rewarding.
Ok… that’s my New Domocrat propoganda for ya! Hope that helped Hobson???
Yeesh… am I going a little overboard here or what??? 
[This message has been edited by rockstar (edited 10-22-2000).]
