On 2013-05-09, at 9:18 PM, Michael Smith wrote:
> On Thu, 9 May 2013 20:55:24 -0400
> Marv Gandall <marvgand2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> the Democratic Party and kindred social
>> democratic parties,
>
> The Donks are a social democratic party? In what parallel
> universe? And what parties are 'kindred' to them -- apart,
> of course, from the Republicans?
I didn't mean to imply that the DP was "social democratic", and you're very much mistaken if you somehow see these parties and the DP as being a world apart. There was a time when the parties of the Second International were distinct from the Democrats in that they originated in their trade union movements and were (at least, nominally) committed to the peaceful nationalization of their leading industries. But the British Labour Party and social democratic parties worldwide have long since been transformed by the prospect and experience of power, and are now virtually indistinguishable from the Democratic Party in terms of their social composition, political program, and role as the main governing alternative to the conservative parties in the political systems of the capitalist democracies. You may not see them as "kindred" LIBERAL parties sharing the same outlook, but their leaders - the Clintons, the Blairs, the Hollandes, the Schroeders, etc. - certainly recognize their ideological affinity. So too, for the most part, do their supporters. Members of Canada's "social democratic" New Democratic Party, for example, strongly identify with the US Democrats, and most every American Democrat I've met would feel quite at home in the NDP. I expect the same is true in the UK, Europe, and elsewhere.