I would like to remind some of what a real Democrat Stands for:

Even as the Second World War continued

In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed.

Among these are:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the Nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated these in his State of the Union speech of January 11th 1944, sometimes called the second bill of rights.

These are not spoken as mere issues, but as fundamental rights

America's own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.

and the real zinger


if history were to repeat itself and we were to return to the so-called "normalcy" of the 1920's—then it is certain that even though we shall have conquered our enemies on the battlefields abroad, we shall have yielded to the spirit of Fascism here at home.

President Lyndon Johnson expanded further upon these idea in his vision of The Great Socierty

A few of the results and most are taken for granted today, but they are continuously being attacked and not just by the opposition

The Wilderness Protection Act saved 9.1 million acres of forestland from industrial development.

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided major funding for American public schools.

The Voting Rights Act banned literacy tests and other discriminatory methods of denying suffrage to African Americans.

Medicare was created to offset the costs of health care for the nation's elderly.

The National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities used public money to fund artists and galleries.

The Immigration Act ended discriminatory quotas based on ethnic origin.

An Omnibus Housing Act provided funds to construct low-income housing.

Congress tightened pollution controls with stronger Air and Water Quality Acts.

Standards were raised for safety in consumer products.

These are the standard values as to what it means to be a Democrat.

We need a Climate Change Race rather than a Space Race these days, take an issue that affects all of mankind and make it your own.

I judge current politicians based on these fundamental issues.

A few pass, most fail abysmally.

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Being a Democrat means 'getting things done', doncha know...

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Democrats, we tried to warn you. How is that guilt and shame working out?

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Ravensword's picture

It depends on what gets done, and it sure as shit won't be climate change mitigation legislation. No, when Hillary says she can get things done, she means things like expanding fracking, ramming TPP through Congress, and means Social Security.

Oh, and more more military misadventures in the Middle East. That's Hillary's specialty.

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progressive reformulation of the concept of "real Democrat" only because:

New Deal programs were a real advance but didn't break with white supremacy--- specifically the Democrats still depended on Dixiecrat power in the south for their political reach;

LBJ's Great Society program came in the same mix, or part of the same package as, major escalation of the US war in Vietnam and counterinsurgency around the world.

Since both sets of programatic advances were responses to major unrest and social movements of protest, erupting from below.

So, like Bernie, I can be a Democrat for some purposes, but when they say (e.g., over at the Orange place) that anyway, that Bernie Sanders isn't a real Democrat, I just laugh....

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"Don't believe everything you read online." -- Epicurus (Greek philosopher, 341–270 BCE)

rather than reversed

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SnappleBC's picture

For quite some time I participated in an alternative community where labels were king. Where you a true this or a true that? Endless debates would spring up on the difference between label1 and label2. What I finally figured out is that the labels themselves were merely convenient gestalts but those gestalts only worked when there was at least some commonality of agreement. What was and always would be more important than the label is the underlying concepts.

In that same way I don't really care about the labels "liberal" and "progressive" and insofar as I'm concerned being a "true Democrat" means you are registered with the Democratic party. The fact that the party itself is no longer supports the things you listed only means that I don't want to support the party... at least in it's current form.

So I agree with the list of specific issues you cited and could add a few more. But I'm fundamentally uninterested in discussions about what a true label is. I'd rather rally around specific political positions than some label.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

The policies above have more in common with a democratic socialism than a corporate lobbyism and were the core values behind everything their Party used to stand for, a point a made time after time you know where.

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solublefish's picture

But - speaking of labels - the right one here would be "social democracy", as democratic socialism entails social ownership of the means of production. That would be a good idea, but it wasn't what FDR was reaching for!

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

Something about 'Bernie uniting the country'. And of course a Hellerybot had to drop his little turd in the punch bowl, so below is his Exact reply:
"The problem for many of us is that he’s not a Democrat."

My first thought was that Bernie is almost the only one in the Dem party that acts like a real Democrat (based on the description of this essay). Strange times.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

I have said before it depend upon your definition of Democrat, mine happens to be that it is a progression of the past rather than a rebuttal

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But he supported them on 90% of Dem votes, and they made him chair of several comittees. go figure...Democratic memory loss?

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enhydra lutris's picture

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Cassiodorus's picture

It's just that now they're lying, and drinking out of the Peterson Foundation punchbowl.

One of the main premises of the "political revolution" has to be this: if we don't like what they DO, we have the right to throw the bastards out.

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"The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity. That it is willing to commit genocide" -- Moon of Alabama

Hetrose's picture

With a few additions, FDR's Second Bill Of Rights would make a great Party Platform. Too bad the Democrats abandoned it for petting from the Corporations.

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MsGrin's picture

Yes. It moved us along. In some ways, we've moved along socially if not yet economically (er, we've moved BACK from where he got us economically in many ways since then).

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'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member