The late singer Tony Bennett was very liberal. He was also an infantryman, and a veteran of brutal house-to-house fighting as the US Army pushed into Germany. Bennett later said that the experience turned him into a pacifist and a liberal.
I respect that.
Nevertheless, you make a very good point. The Democrat Party of the old days has morphed into something very ugly.
I have older friends and relatives who just can’t see that. They still think it’s the party of JFK. So they still vote D. Could Van Dyke and Bennett be in that same boat?
I had grandparents who were born during WW1, and hardly knew anyone who wasn’t solidly behind FDR and Dems all the way down the ballot. They began to taper off on Democrats until they only voted D for local folks in municipal elections. People they actually knew. Eventually, people they actually knew were too old to run for office.
One line from Grandma’s journal recalls the McCarthy hearings and goes, “They really were shades of red.”
Eddie Albert of Green Acres fame was also very liberal with a distinguished military career. His politics were awful but he earned a right to be heard and respected.