Nathan Newman wrote:
>Actually, my argument has been over and over again that the mainstream of
>the party - what could be labelled the median Dem legislator - is to the
>LEFT of where the party was 25 years ago.
-So then why did those right-wing Dems give us Medicare, Medicaid, -expansion of SS benefits, food stamps, etc., while the current gang -gave us TANF and "protect the surplus" fiscal politics?
To repeat, there were MORE Dems in total and MORE liberal Republicans to sponsor those programs. Heck, even more conservative Republicans like Bob Dole co-sponsored Food Stamps.
To phrase it a different way, if we removed all the Republicans from the Congress in both 1970 and 2001 and only Dems got to vote, the policy passed today would be more progressive.
Justin wants to argue that the old Dixiecrats were good on class, even though they were bad on race. He cites Al Gore's father, who was frankly an abberation on labor issues, having been Secretary of Labor in Tennessee. Most Boll Weevil Southern Democrats were bad on race AND labor issues - remember, it was the Dixiecrats who excluded most southern workers from the Wagner Act in the 30s because they did not want black workers to be able to unionize. There were a strain of populist southern Democrats but the hardcore Boll Weevils who were pro-business and anti-civil rights were far more common. When they left the Dems, they marched straight over to the rightwing of the GOP - in fact, they helped make the GOP far more rightwing and helped destroy the remaining liberal Republicans.
100 House Dems co-sponsored single payer health care. If the Dems back in 1970 were so great, how come they didn't deliver universal health care if they were so much better? How come large minorities of the Dems back then routinely voted against increases in the minimum wage, while Dems vote almost universally today for increases? I could go down a list of issues where far large numbers of Dems voted on the conservative side of issues a generation ago.
BTW Brad, where do I complain about my missing paycheck in serving to keep you down on the reservation?
-- Nathan Newman