What are the "core values" of the Democratic Party?

[Gandalf]

As the title says.

The Republicans have a few key issues around which they build the party. It's boots on faces, forever. Women's controls over their bodies? Fuck 'em. Minorities? Fuck 'em. Poor people? Fuck 'em. If you hate someone enough, there's probably a space for you in the GOP.

But what are the core ideas of the Democratic party? Their website is pretty vague, and the last election showed that the base sure isn't united on one or two ideas.

There's a few places I'd like to see them go, but I'll come back with more later.

[The Romulan Republic]

I would say that the basics, at a guess, include:

Economics: A functional social safety net (including health care, though positions range from something like the Affordable Care Act to a nation-wide single payer system) funded by taxation, and that the rich should be taxed more than the poor.

Domestic policy: Protection of civil rights for minorities and women, and legal equality.

Greater gun control.

I think most are for some degree of environmental protection as well, though how strong they are on this issue varies greatly (see the fracking debate last primary).

Foreign Policy: I don't think their is a single view on foreign policy shared by all, or nearly all, of the Democratic Party. You've got strong American exceptionalist hawks, you've got anti-war non-interventionists who think that any war is an imperialist conspiracy, and everything in between.

[Knife]

They need to start basic then expand. Start with 'We are for the middle class, the working men and women of America' and then develop planks in their agenda that support this.

I know, I know. They are supposed to be that already, but we know they aren't. It will take time and actual effort on their part to convince people they are on their side again. So close behind them stating a direction and actually moving in that direct would come from them cleaning up their own shit as well. Blue collar workers aren't going to believe in them if they say they stand for the working peeps if the Dems as a party keep gobbling up all that sweet Wall Street money, keep Goldman Sach's peeps in office/party spots, and rolling over on big issues that affect the working men/women. Once they get some cred back, they can expand their 'values'.

[General Zod]

FDRs four freedoms are probably a good starting point.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms

[Kingmaker]

The Democrats don't have core values. It's party welded together from different factions who were at some point in time convinced their interests were pointed in roughly the same direction and/or were promised support in exchange for support.

[General Zod]

The Democrats don't have core values. It's party welded together from different factions who were at some point in time convinced their interests were pointed in roughly the same direction and/or were promised support in exchange for support.

You could make the same accusations of the Republican party if you were really inclined to shitpost.

[Kingmaker]

The Democrats don't have core values. It's party welded together from different factions who were at some point in time convinced their interests were pointed in roughly the same direction and/or were promised support in exchange for support.

You could make the same accusations of the Republican party if you were really inclined to shitpost.

I could. And I would. The Ds and Rs are 150 year old political frankensteins that have undergone multiple realignments. I don't think that either had some sort of core value or mission statement beyond "win elections".

[The Romulan Republic]

What the parties were one hundred and fifty years ago is irrelevant to what defines them today. It is unreasonable to expect a party not to change in a century and a half, or conclude that it is lacking in principles if it does.

And I have am disappointed, but not surprised, to see yet another attempt to falsely equate the Democratic and Republican Parties, which serves no purpose but to encourage divisiveness, cynicism, and apathy.

If you disdain "political frankensteins" formed by compromise between various factions, and conclude that they lack true principles, then you will never accomplish anything much in a democratic system of government. You win elections, and thus are in a position to enact your principles most effectively, by forming a large coalition that can win the support of a majority (or close to it- thanks Electoral College) of the voters.

Rejecting any compromise between factions as a lack of principles is the course of the fanatic, and one that will ultimately lead to defeat in a democratic system of government. This, above all, is why I do not believe that any of the existing third party movements, as they currently are, can ever amount to anything- because the define themselves in no small part by their uncompromising adherence to fringe positions, and take pride in that fact.

[Elfdart]

I would say that the basics, at a guess, include:

Economics: A functional social safety net (including health care, though positions range from something like the Affordable Care Act to a nation-wide single payer system) funded by taxation, and that the rich should be taxed more than the poor.

Domestic policy: Protection of civil rights for minorities and women, and legal equality.

Greater gun control.

I think most are for some degree of environmental protection as well, though how strong they are on this issue varies greatly (see the fracking debate last primary).

Foreign Policy: I don't think their is a single view on foreign policy shared by all, or nearly all, of the Democratic Party. You've got strong American exceptionalist hawks, you've got anti-war non-interventionists who think that any war is an imperialist conspiracy, and everything in between.

This more or less sums it up for the voters who support the Democratic Party: a return to the more sensible economic and social improvements from the New Deal to the Great Society, though both have been so demonized that like Obamacare, people recoil from the names like the peasants in Monty Python And The Holy Grail do when they cower at the mention of the Knights who say Ni.

On the other hand, the party itself has only one principle: to lose on cue, just like jobbers in pro wrestling or palookas in some of the shadier boxing associations. They are content with accepting the loser's purse and maybe once in a while being allowed to win when the "face" fucks up once too often, and the jobber gets to be the champ for a brief while until a new "face" can be installed. Now your typical jobber is quite happy with being the bitch and doesn't want anyone pointing out that the matches are either heavily stacked or outright fixed. That's why pwog hacks like the ones on MSNBC are almost as interested in hippie-punching (preferably the female DFHs like Jill Stein and Susan Sarandon) as they are in exposing Agent Orange's bullfuckery.

The only reason the DNC exists at all is that in a winner-takes-all system, voting third party is a waste of time -and a voter who wants to waste their time can do it much more effectively by sitting home on election day.

[His Divine Shadow]

Can this be said to be a core value?
https://twitter.com/dustin_temple10/sta ... 5086656512

[The Romulan Republic]

I would say that the basics, at a guess, include:

Economics: A functional social safety net (including health care, though positions range from something like the Affordable Care Act to a nation-wide single payer system) funded by taxation, and that the rich should be taxed more than the poor.

Domestic policy: Protection of civil rights for minorities and women, and legal equality.

Greater gun control.

I think most are for some degree of environmental protection as well, though how strong they are on this issue varies greatly (see the fracking debate last primary).

Foreign Policy: I don't think their is a single view on foreign policy shared by all, or nearly all, of the Democratic Party. You've got strong American exceptionalist hawks, you've got anti-war non-interventionists who think that any war is an imperialist conspiracy, and everything in between.

This more or less sums it up for the voters who support the Democratic Party: a return to the more sensible economic and social improvements from the New Deal to the Great Society, though both have been so demonized that like Obamacare, people recoil from the names like the peasants in Monty Python And The Holy Grail do when they cower at the mention of the Knights who say Ni.

On the other hand, the party itself has only one principle: to lose on cue, just like jobbers in pro wrestling or palookas in some of the shadier boxing associations. They are content with accepting the loser's purse and maybe once in a while being allowed to win when the "face" fucks up once too often, and the jobber gets to be the champ for a brief while until a new "face" can be installed. Now your typical jobber is quite happy with being the bitch and doesn't want anyone pointing out that the matches are either heavily stacked or outright fixed. That's why pwog hacks like the ones on MSNBC are almost as interested in hippie-punching (preferably the female DFHs like Jill Stein and Susan Sarandon) as they are in exposing Agent Orange's bullfuckery.

The only reason the DNC exists at all is that in a winner-takes-all system, voting third party is a waste of time -and a voter who wants to waste their time can do it much more effectively by sitting home on election day.

Their are Democratic politicians who make some effort to stand up for most or all of the principles I listed above, but I won't deny that the party leadership has lately exhibited unfortunately tendencies towards political incompetence and conceding when it shouldn't.

Hopefully the spectre of Russo-American fascism will be enough to stiffen their backbones.

That's our problem- our system largely consists of two parties, one of whom tries very ineffectually to do mostly decent things, and the other of which tries very hard to do mostly evil things.

[The Romulan Republic]

Now, if the question is what should the core principles of the Democratic Party be, I would say that at this point, its pretty much:

1. Upholding the Constitution, particularly the rights to freedom of expression/belief, legal equality, due process, and a fair vote.
2. Obstructing Trump/the Republicans, and removing them from power.
3. Avoiding embroiling the US in major wars/confrontations, particularly with other nuclear powers (and no, that doesn't mean we have to role over for Russia on everything, Donald).
4. Ensuring that key aspects of the social safety net, particularly Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and public education, are functional.
5. Addressing Climate Change, because this is a threat to the whole Earth long-term.

Everything else should be negotiable and open to compromise.

In other words, we should be the Party of the Poor and Middle Class, regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, national origin, etc.; and our first priority in that regard should be to maintain American democracy against Republican efforts to undermine it.