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Democratic Party platform: An uneven progression over the years
In 1972, the party promises “a guaranteed job for all,” offering to “make the government the employer of last resort.” But 20 years later, the Democrats pivot and nearly apologize for themselves, appealing to “Americans who may have thought the Democratic Party had forgotten its way” by saying that it now “rejects the big government theory that says we can .?.?. tax and spend our way to prosperity.”
If Republicans from 1960 to today moved in fairly linear fashion to ever-more conservative stances on the economy, taxes and a slew of social issues, the Democratic evolution over the same period was a more jagged series of experiments with activist and statist approaches, interspersed with more traditional paeans to family, faith and individual initiative.
The Democrats’ 2012 platform, released this week at their convention in Charlotte, presents voters with a laundry list of positions designed to portray the governing party as the one committed to the middle class. The overarching idea is that “we’re all in it together,” and the document repeatedly says the party’s opponents are devoted to solving problems “from the top down,” focusing on the wealthy.
This year’s plank breaks little new ground, although for the first time, its support for legalizing same-sex marriage is definitive and clear, and it commits to combating anti-gay activity around the world.
But just as the GOP avoids the word “conservative” in its platforms, the Democrats never go near “liberal” or even “progressive.”
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-party-platform-an-uneven-progression-over-the-years/2012/09/04/b793213e-f144-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_print.html
If Republicans from 1960 to today moved in fairly linear fashion to ever-more conservative stances on the economy, taxes and a slew of social issues, the Democratic evolution over the same period was a more jagged series of experiments with activist and statist approaches, interspersed with more traditional paeans to family, faith and individual initiative.
The Democrats’ 2012 platform, released this week at their convention in Charlotte, presents voters with a laundry list of positions designed to portray the governing party as the one committed to the middle class. The overarching idea is that “we’re all in it together,” and the document repeatedly says the party’s opponents are devoted to solving problems “from the top down,” focusing on the wealthy.
This year’s plank breaks little new ground, although for the first time, its support for legalizing same-sex marriage is definitive and clear, and it commits to combating anti-gay activity around the world.
But just as the GOP avoids the word “conservative” in its platforms, the Democrats never go near “liberal” or even “progressive.”
Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democratic-party-platform-an-uneven-progression-over-the-years/2012/09/04/b793213e-f144-11e1-a612-3cfc842a6d89_print.html
I'd argue the Republican progression has been exponential rather than linear. The Democrats seem to me to represent a slow, inexorable drift right.
