General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Yes, I like Pope Francis. Sue me [View all]Chan790
(20,176 posts)he's pretty much the mirror image of them.
Where they are socially liberal to slightly-moderate and fiscally conservative, he's extremely fiscally liberal to socialistic and socially/morally-conservative.
If one has a problem with Pope Francis, they'd be hypocritical to not have a problem with the current and past two Democratic Presidents and the presumed 2016 front-runner unless they were ready to say that the only Democratic positions that matter are social issues.
I don't believe the only Democratic positions that matter are social issues.
What's more, the ability of the Democratic party to forge a long-term coalition to maintain control of government and build a majority in the House is eventually going to require Democrats to create bridges with liberal Catholics and other Christians, particularly those in Catholic Worker movements and other faith-driven social justice movements where those people may not be entirely on-board with a polemical social-libertarian platform.
I may hate the 3rd way and "moderate" Democrats and I'm not even remotely on-board with the moral positions of the religious left...but we do need both of them if we want to be Democratic and liberal in more than the very narrowest sense where the moderate tail of the party is predominantly center-right libertarian and they dictate the agenda and platform of the party to the larger base.
(I can't believe I'm making a big tent argument...but I'm making a big tent argument.)