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I can remember what I call the Democratic Party's "Glory Days" - those days which have slipped away, days when the Democrats led the country out of "The Great Depression" with a bank holiday, the W.P.A., the C.C.C.,the P.W.A., the N.R.A., and I don't know how many other alphabet combinations.

It was Democrats who created the minimum wage. They were always in the forefront where labor gains were concerned. But nowadays days are not "glory days." It was Democrats who fought for Social Security, civil rights, and Medicare. Social equality is still a claimed Democrat priority, but these aren't the "glory days."

Environment is a contentious issue, and when there is a conflict between environment and profit, Democrats defend environment. The other guys defend profit. Preservation is a higher purpose than making money, but that doesn't make these the "glory days."

Democrats improved the economy and and achieved a deficit reduction during the Clinton years. They enacted a crime bill in spite of heavy opposition, but those were not the "glory days."

Why not? And why so many defections from the working middle class which has benefitted so much from past Democrat effort? What's missing?

Nothing is missing. Something has been added: a form of immorality. In its zeal to be all things to all people,the Party has tried to become all-inclusive and the voters' perception of the Party has changed. Many of the faithful have deserted their Party because they can't stomach their fellow travelers. Some have a deep-rooted moral aversion to abortion. Some believe the rights of law-abiding citizens have been subordinated in favor of predatory felons. Most abhor and are disgusted by social acceptance of sodomy and other deviant sexual practices. Their consciences force them to reevaluate ptriorities.

Rightly or wrongly, a very large number of defectors believe that permissive liberalism is responsible for moral decay, bastard babies, proliferation of drugs, crime and pornography, unwarranted welfare, suppression of public prayer, and practically evry other social evil. In their minds, lurks a simple equation. Democrat equals liberal, atheist, permissive, criminal-coddling, homosexual, and abortion.

I recognize the problem, but I don't think desertion is a viable solution. The country needs two strong opposing parties. It needs a healthy, moral Democratic Party. The Party must be retaken by Moderate and Conservative Democrats and former Democrats.

People who believe, as I do, that the true meaning of G.O.P. is greed, oppression, and profit must not be silent, passive observers. We owe it to ourselves to reclaim our party.

Letters to the editors, call-in radio shows, probing questions put to candidates in the primaries, direct correspondence with elected representatives, and most important,the vote, are all tools capable of reshaping the Party.

Our Democratic Party has a shining past. We must not abandon it to the special interest fringes with immoral agendas. Let's take it back!

Learn more about this author, Jim Mcdougal.
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