Once upon a time, there were two major political parties in the United States. One was called the Democrats and the other party was called the Republicans.
One party, the Democrats, was the party of the blue-collar class and boasted having such presidents as Roosevelt, Kennedy, Clinton and Obama. The Republicans were considered the party of the rich who favored fair trade and looked back fondly on Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan.
Today’s parties no longer resemble their forbears.
The Republican Party is attached to Donald Trump at the hip and the head. Most of its members spout the fiction that the 2020 election was stolen.
The vast majority of their congressional delegation refused to certify the election results and they live each day to vilify gays, transsexuals, immigrants, Muslims and any Democrat. They stand for nothing and express sympathy for the Jan. 6 rioters.
A snapshot of election contests in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia reveals the current state of the party, once referred to as the party of Lincoln.
The Ohio Senate candidate J.D.Vance, has advice for women in a “violent marriage. He suggests they stay there “for the sake of the children.” The Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor Doug Mastriano is running as an election denier and promises that he will, if elected, take over the election machinery to keep the elections “honest.”
The Georgia Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker recently revealed that he has three children, after denying their existence and lied about having been a peace officer.
He has made weird claims about global warming and is an avowed supporter of Donald Trump. Another image for the Republican Party is that of Pennsylvania’s Rep. Glenn Thompson, who voted against a bill that would codify the right to have a same-sex marriage and three days later attended his son’s same-sex wedding.
On a scale of one to ten, the Democratic Party isn’t replicating the Roosevelt or Kennedy years. Joseph R. Biden did America the biggest favor when he soundly defeated Donald Trump by seven million votes. From his first days in office, he has attempted to pass a number of significant programs such as expanded day care and pre-kindergarten programs. Biden has begged his party to take major action against climate change but Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), has sabotaged almost every reform effort of his party’s president.
The reform wing of the Democratic Party hasn’t been of any help either. They have pushed for a large number of important programs, but have given President Biden very little support in moving his agenda.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt) has never tried to help his party’s leader on any issues. Sanders still believes that he should have been president and is hinting that he is still available in 2024. Congress members such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez get a lot of publicity thanks to the issue-hungry media, but she has never been a productive voice in the party.
The next 90 days will decide the fate of both political parties.
It is safe to say that the Republican Party will run an issue-less campaign. They will spout the so-called “replacement theory” as part of their campaign of ugliness. They will attempt to portray themselves as law-and-order candidates, even though they describe the Jan. 6 insurrection as a “tourist event”. They will portray themselves as crime stoppers at the same time as six of their members are said to have asked for a presidential pardon for their Jan. 6 involvement.
The Democratic Party faces an equally big challenge. They are partially responsible for the president’s unpopularity but have to show that they are a party of substance.
The country is on the precipice of a takeover by a rogue party, that favors total bans on abortions and defends the sale of AK 47’s to minors. There is no doubt that the Democrats have the better issues but it is uncertain whether those issues will help them hang on.
Today’s Republican Party no longer resembles the party of Ronald Reagan. The Democrats still look somewhat like the party of Franklin Roosevelt, but they have a higher electoral mountain to climb. My fervent hope is that the voters understand the differences between the two and act accordingly.