The Democrat Party- How Did the Wheels Fall Off?

The Democrat Party: how did the wheels fall off?

For months, we the voters were told daily that Hillary Clinton’s election was inevitable, there was no stopping the runaway Winnebago of her campaign, just get on board or out of the way. But the voters resisted the collective siren song of the media, the pollsters, the talking heads and the RINO enablers, decided that her ascendancy to the presidency was stoppable, and stop her they did! So what went wrong? How about bad ideas? There is a profound disconnect between the real world of voters and the ideologically driven world of the Democrat party. The policy goals of the party outlined in the 2016 platform demonstrate how disconnected the party is from their real beliefs and conduct as well as the world voters live in. Consider a few key policy issues of the Democrat Party Platform:

Raise Income and Restore Economic Security for the Middle Class

Democrats advocate raising the minimum wage as a cure for all that ails the economy. The US economy has about 140 million people on payrolls, and per the Bureau of Labor (BLS), in 2014, 3 million workers were at or below minimum wage, or 4% of the workforce. And a large percentage of them get pay raises as they gain experience, so minimum wage is a starting pay rate, not a permanent condition. Democrats talk about the economy as if half the workforce were minimum wage workers! Secondly, the US has 95 million Americans of working age, sitting at home without jobs. Voters know the real unemployment rate is 15-20%, not the phony 5% the BLS and media report weekly. Voters know better!

Create Good paying Jobs

Build our Infrastructure, a mantra of the party, means we need union jobs, which produces union dues, and that produces campaign donations. Bring back Manufacturing, for the party means we need more enterprises to tax. Clean Energy Jobs means create a nation of endless fields of windmills and solar panels, crush any carbon based energy sources such as coal, natural gas and oil via taxes and regulations.

The entire private sector of the US economy runs on after tax dollars. The US has the highest corporate tax rates of first world countries, so all US based companies have a steeper hill to climb to generate sufficient revenue to hire people, cover operating expenses and profitability, plus pay all those taxes that their competitors, especially outside the US, are not burdened with. The Democrat party has proven it will not act to reduce any tax or regulatory burden of the private sector where voters live and work. Voters know better!

Provide Quality and Affordable Education

The party is all in for support of teachers unions, payback for the grass roots support during political campaigns, and endless campaign funding. The party opposes any incursion into the education industry that could reduce union teacher jobs or create any accountability for student performance. The best policy idea for helping a family to improve education opportunities for their children is a voucher program, enabling a family to remove a child from government school to either home school or enroll in a private school. On a national level, costs of education per student in government run schools is a range from $5000 to $14,000 per student, with an average of $11,094 in 2014. Average cost per student in private school system is $5396 (2014 data). School Choice (vouchers) is a path to liberation of children from government run education, offering better education opportunities for families.

School Choice, or any program that reduces school enrollment and therefor needs for teachers in government schools, is totally opposed by the Democrat party. Democrat party policies are to fund government education, the most expensive option, protect teacher union jobs, and reject any programs focused on school performance or accountability. Voters deserve better!

Protect Voting Rights, Fix our Campaign Finance System….

The Vote: The Democrat party supports programs such as same day registration for voting, motor voter laws, no proof of identity when voting, and other measures, all of which create major problems for protecting the integrity of an election. Democrats routinely oppose efforts to clear up voter rolls, drop names of deceased voters, or names of people who have relocated, or require any form of identification. Vote fraud may have occurred in the recent election, with reports of up to 1 million people voting who are not citizens. For the party, protecting the vote means allowing them to register anyone to vote, or get anyone to the polls, or collect their absentee ballots, and make all those votes count. Voters know better!

Fix our Campaign Finance System

Democrats fully support all sources of funding for the party and oppose all sources of funding for their opponents. Calls to “Fix” campaign finance tend to focus on ways to limit how others raise funds for campaigns, and leave the Democrat party sources of funds alone. In the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court held that corporations are eligible to make campaign contributions without violating current campaign finance regulations. Since corporations might donate more funds to the Republican party, democrats oppose the court finding. It must be noted that Wall Street donations to Obama were four times as much versus the McCain campaign in 2008. But that does not stop the democrats from ranting on that congress must regulate corporations as sources of funds, leaving all their resources alone. Hypocrisy! Voters know better!

Summary

The overall Democrat party platform reflects an ideology of liberal goals that the voters have rejected. As a result, the Democrat party has been reduced to a bi-coastal party with some presence in a few interior states, holding 18 governorships and 33 state legislatures. Will the party take steps necessary to examine its policies, re-think what it stands for and adopt new ideas? Or will the party determine that it just needs to improve its messaging, get new messengers, sell the same ideas in better packaging, and either stay the course or go further left? The Democrat party has reached an incredible crossroads! Either re-invent the party, or stay on track and risk obsolescence! In the next few election cycles, we the voters will decide whether they have adopted the right course of action.