The writer is an asshat. I told him as much in an email to him. Of course, I was much more polite. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Posted on 11/12/2003 1:59:47 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
NBC's The West Wing introduced many politically challenged Americans to a group of U.S. House members called "Blue Dog Democrats."
Their claims to fame, or infamy, are their fiscally conservative voting pattern, their toadying up to Republicans and their mission to drag what remains of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party kicking, punching and screaming back to the squishy center of U.S. politics.
Enough about Blue Dogs.
Over the years, when I have called myself a "Yellow Dog Democrat," I always am amazed that so many folks have never heard the term. Here is a simple definition of Yellow Dog Democrats: If the only candidate on the Democratic ticket is an old cur yellow dog running against a highly regarded Republican, we would vote for the yellow dog. Period. A handful of Yellow Dogs may actually like some Republicans, but hardly any of us trust Republicans to run government, especially the federal government. We are, according to Just Politics, "unswerving" party loyalists.
Political writer Taegan D. Goddard offers this derivation of Yellow Dog: "The term comes from the 1928 elections. During the election, Sen. Tom Heflin of Alabama refused to support fellow Democrat Al Smith. Instead, Heflin chose to support Republican Herbert Hoover, who would go on to become president. Many Alabamians disagreed with Heflin's choice and in retaliation popularized the line "I'd vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket!' "
Besides being Southerners, the main characteristic of Yellow Dog Democrats is their liberalism, which knocks out the likes of Sen. Joe Lieberman, who supported many of George W. Bush's un-American policies, including his overthrow of a sovereign nation. Yellow Dogs still believe that liberalism is nature's greatest creation - after sex and the grapes from which red wine is made.
Devotion to liberty - as expressed in Ben Franklin's famous words - is always in the middle of the Yellow Dog's feeding dish: "They who would give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Obviously, then, Yellow Dogs have nothing but contempt for the current administration in the White House, an administration whose attorney general's idea of liberty is the FBI's unfettered right to wiretap the homes of those with whom he disagrees.
Yellow Dogs, being liberal, believe that America has real classes of disenfranchised residents - African-Americans, homosexuals, farm workers - whose rights need protecting and honoring.
Which gets me to another point: Who are these Yellow Dog Democrats anyway? My own guesswork tells me that far fewer white males count themselves as Yellow Dogs than just 10 years ago. Jews, too, who used to be a stable bloc, are increasingly deserting the party. The same is true of Hispanics, and not just Castro-hating South Florida Cubans. Many Chicanos in California, Central Florida and elsewhere now vote Republican. A large number of Arabs, who once shunned the GOP, voted for Bush. Go figure.
As always, the most loyal Yellow Dog Democrats are African-Americans. Oh, sure, you hear big mouths, such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and NAACP leader Kweisi Mfume, go on about blacks not letting the Democratic Party take them for granted. But such talk is showboating nonsense. Blacks have hardly any reason to get in bed with Republicans. The modern Democratic Party (I am not talking about "Dixierats") expresses our values, our goals, our aspirations. The Democratic Party has done the most for us.
The Republicans' racist inner core repels blacks, many seeing the old beloved party of Lincoln as their contemporary enemy. Far from taking African-Americans for granted, the Democrats long ago made our quest for civil rights the bedrock of many policies. The Democratic Party is black America. You do not take for granted that which you are. You simply are. Blacks are Democrats. Yes, yes, J.C. Watts, Clarence Thomas, Condi Rice, Colin Powell and others have cast their lot with the devil, but their action does not mean that the rest of us should lose our minds, too. We know who our real friends are. And they are not in the GOP.
Blacks did not become Yellow Dog Democrats accidentally. They found a home, a place where they knew that bleeding hearts would do the decent thing - even if the decent thing had unintended negative consequences. I cannot recall a single time that Democrats planned how to abuse blacks. Without trying, I can think of many ways that Republicans have been intentionally cruel to blacks and other groups.
No one should be surprised that most blacks are Yellow Dog Democrats.
Mr Maxwell, you write, "The Democratic Party has done the most for us."
I say the Republican Party beliveves you can do more for yourself. The GOP believes in your ablility to succeed. The Democrat Party wants you to need them.
One of my former students wrote the other day expressing concern for her son, a graduating senior at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale. Muscular, big and a fast runner, the young man has a college football scholarship.
The problem is that he carries a secret that, if exposed, will subject him to almost-certain ridicule: He loves and reads the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, he writes excellent verse and he wants to study English and become a poet of the non-hip-hop kind. I was told of his plight because mine was similar when I was his age, which I had shared with his mother and her classmates.
Like I was at 17, this young man is a victim of one of black culture's self-imposed stereotypes: dark-skinned black males are dumb.
……………….. Why does Colin Powell incite such interest and awe among whites? Why do so many white people think they like him and would vote for him? Because he makes them feel comfortable by defying the old stereotypes about the black male. Fortunately, birth gave Powell fair skin and a fairly decent grade of hair. His environment gave him the blessing of good speech and easy manners, traits that defy the old stereotypes.
I discussed all of these ideas with my former student. What, she asked, should she say to her son about his desire to major in English? I advised her to help him find ways to avoid the stereotypes that will hurt him, that will cause him to play out society's expectations, that will automatically define him.***
_____________________________________________________________
Listen to your own advice, Mr. Maxwell and don't stereotypically hand your vote to the Democratic Party.
He went on to say that he grew up in the Democratic Party house and yes, the roof leaks and the floor creaks and some people he doesn't know are living in the basement but he's been there longer than they have and he isn't leaving. He said his family, neighbors and friends understand and at his age, that's all that matters.
Well, unintended or not, it's time to get the hell out of Dodge.
Could this be tongue-in-cheek? How could he see the "unintended consequences" and still be a Yellow Dog? Unless, of course, yellow dog means 'brain dead and prrrrrroud of it'.
Name one. Come on Bill, name one.
It would appear, he's more in favor of the collective than the individual.
I'd like to hear some of those too!
The writer is an asshat. I told him as much in an email to him. Of course, I was much more polite. Be Seeing You,
Chris
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.