Posted on 10/29/2007 12:58:38 PM PDT by Dumb_Ox
How did the Democratic Party lose the support of the working-class and Catholic voters who were once its stronghold? In his book Why the Democrats Are Blue: How Secular Liberals Hijacked the People's Party, Mark Stricherz argues that the change from the "people's party" to a party of secular-elite values can be traced to a particular political moment -- and one that few people would think. Deal W. Hudson sat down with Stricherz to talk about what he calls "the greatest untold story in American politics." ♦ ♦ ♦
Deal W. Hudson: Mark, what led you to write this book?
Mark Stricherz: Well, it started when you asked me to write a story about pro-life Democrats in January 2002, and I took you up on the offer. In the course of my research, I discovered one of the main reasons why the Democratic Party changed from the New Deal Democratic era, when white Southern Protestants and Northern Catholics ran the party, to the party it is today.
DH: Tell me about your family background and its political allegiances.
MS: I grew up in the Bay area in the 1970s and 1980s, and saw the difference between the members of my own family -- traditional Catholics trying to help the poor and vulnerable -- and the values of the people in the San Francisco Bay area: upper-class, secular people who didn't seem to share the same values. But those secular people seemed to be in charge of the public Democratic Party.
DH: You describe in your book the principal reasons why the Democratic Party changed from what you call the "people's party" to what it is today. Is McGovern the man to blame primarily?
MS: No, although he does bear some responsibility for it. It was really the staff on his commission -- Ken Bode, the research director; Eli Segal, the commission counsel; Fred Dutton, who was treasurer on the commission; and Anne Wexler -- those are the four main people who decided they were going to take the commission in an entirely new direction, completely contrary to its original purpose to democratize the selection of the party's presidential nominee.
DH: Explain what the McGovern Commission was.
MS: The McGovern Commission was set up at the 1968 Democratic National Convention to democratize the party's nomination process. The 1968 Democratic primaries had been bogged down by charges that young voters were excluded from participating in state conventions. So in the convention that year, the delegates narrowly approved a measure to try to change that. They basically had to scrap the old party-boss nomination system, which gave the state and local leaders the power to choose the delegates.
DH: Was McGovern aware at the time of how his commission had been hijacked along lines that, I assume, he didn't approve of?
MS: That's a good question. I can't really determine McGovern's own private state; he did vote for one of the more damaging rule changes, which was to require implied delegate quotas for women and young people, which is completely contrary to the ideal of democratizing the process. So he does bear that share of the blame; he should have stepped in.
Stricherz has done some good work digging into what turned the Dems into secular nutcases. I must confess I have fantasies of wrestling power back from the hijackers in the Democratic leadership. His full book is also titled Why the Democrats are Blue
Could one of you ping your Catholic list? This involves the decline of Catholic influence in the Democratic party.
Thats cause they have their heads up their @ss
The leftward drift of the Democrat party began in the late 20's, if not before. In states like Minnesota, Michigan,and New York a Republican Governbor and Legislature was the norm, with the Democrtats hurt by strong Communist, Socialist, and Progrssive Vote Blocs, who had their own parties and candidates.
The Soviets directed their membership to register as Democrats and to enter intra-party politics. With their strong discipline and mastery of technique it wasn't long until they took over! An early target, the governorship of NY. Roosevelt, with strong support from the far left, breezed into the governorship and made many important state appointments from among them.
The Catholics became less important over the years and were certainly marginalized in party leadership roles. The far left despises the working classes, and it shows. You would be amazed, amazed I tell you, at how many big time Democrat thinkers, movers, and shakers of today are the actual descendants of these very far left ... dare one say communists ... whom Roosevelt empowered by taking them to Washington. Ypou would also be amazed at how many were run by the Soviets.
Guess what, they are richer than hell now, and plan to stay that way.
The leftward drift of the Democrat party began in the late 20's, if not before. In states like Minnesota, Michigan,and New York a Republican Governbor and Legislature was the norm, with the Democrtats hurt by strong Communist, Socialist, and Progrssive Vote Blocs, who had their own parties and candidates.
The Soviets directed their membership to register as Democrats and to enter intra-party politics. With their strong discipline and mastery of technique it wasn't long until they took over! An early target, the governorship of NY. Roosevelt, with strong support from the far left, breezed into the governorship and made many important state appointments from among them.
The Catholics became less important over the years and were certainly marginalized in party leadership roles. The far left despises the working classes, and it shows. You would be amazed, amazed I tell you, at how many big time Democrat thinkers, movers, and shakers of today are the actual descendants of these very far left ... dare one say communists ... whom Roosevelt empowered by taking them to Washington. Ypou would also be amazed at how many were run by the Soviets.
Guess what, they are richer than hell now, and plan to stay that way.
This sounds like an interesting political read.
No, it began before the 1920s. The seminal moment was the nomination of radical William Jennings Bryan in 1896 following up Conservative Grover Cleveland. You had some real leftist loons in the Democrat party including the infamous IL Gov. John Peter Altgeld (1893-97). Altgeld was the one who helped to drive out Cleveland and championed Bryan (who was accused of being a puppet of Altgeld’s). A lot of these folks were either European immigrants or aligned with their cause, many of whom were Socialist anti-Monarchists, and were anxious to bring the Socialist agenda to our shores. In a lot of ways, they succeeded and a lot of the goals were accomplished.
I apologize for being East-Coast-Centric. The Leftists have re-written their own history in New York, erasing the violent street battles for control of the Communist Party, The Socialists, Unions, and the yes, the Democrat Party. One will often find the children and grandchildren of these people actually in control of the direction of the Democrat Party today.
This really does go back to Karl Marx and Engels. In a way, the Democrats have even followed Hegel, who said that to be a successful politician one must create a problem, get others to believe it is a problem, and then convince many others you are the only one who can solve it. The work of Herbertt Marcuse will explain it to you, just as he did Hillary.
Hey, have you got any books on this subject that I can look for?
Altgeld...aka the first John Daly of Chicago, was a really weird character. Hillary Clinton must be a fan as he wielded ruthless power while backing unions, dabbled in real estate schemes that only paid off because of his influence and cowed committees by his very presence. Clarence Darrow was an associate during his early years though later on Altgeld worked unsuccessfully to get William Jennings Bryan elected over William McKinley.
Darrow and Bryan, of course, squared off against each other during the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial”.
ping.
No surprise to see a close relative of the infamous NY Socialist Corliss Lamont end up as the standard-bearer of the purge movement of the CT Democrats last November, young Neddie. Scary stuff. Of course, the NY GOP of the '20s and '30s had their own problems with Socialists and Communists trying to gain a foothold. Our party has the unfortunate distinction of having elected the first person to ever run under the Communist party banner to Congress, that being the infamous Vito Marcantonio. Of course, LaGuardia wasn't much further to the right of him with their participation in the American Labor party.
"This really does go back to Karl Marx and Engels. In a way, the Democrats have even followed Hegel, who said that to be a successful politician one must create a problem, get others to believe it is a problem, and then convince many others you are the only one who can solve it. The work of Herbertt Marcuse will explain it to you, just as he did Hillary."
IIRC, Marx had high hopes for Lincoln imposing a revolutionary "new paradigm" on the American public as long ago as the 1860s. Fortunately this country was not favorably disposed to such an ideology.
Unfortunately, most of my knowledge has been obtained from reading textbooks and articles over the past quarter-century, I don’t know if I can point you to a specific book on this subject. However, I did come across one book, written by Altgeld himself, that would probably give you some idea as to his mindset: http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-cost-of-something-for-nothing-by-john-p-altgeld.jsp
I think you meant Richard Daley. ;-) The frightening thing about Altgeld is that he desired to be President. Fortunately, that nasty little part in the Constitution about having to be native-born to serve in that capacity spared us that potentially scary situation. I was surprised how much publications at the time portrayed Bryan as an outright puppet of Altgeld’s (and Altgeld was openly derided as a “Communist”, a slur that packed a punch even in the 1890s). Yes, it did appear Darrow had to bail Altgeld out of a jam. I was also wondering about the state of Altgeld’s health while he served as Governor, if he was mentally “all there.” He had a worsening medical condition (locomotor ataxia) and some side links to reading up on the causes included syphilis (whether that was the case here, I don’t know — but we’re well aware of the loose moral values of leftists, so he might’ve believed in “free love” for all we know).
Interesting that when Altgeld was Governor, he was obsessed with architecture and allegedly demanded public buildings (specifically universities) adhere to certain designs (such as Tudor style and also “recreating” the castles of Germany), and you apparently can still see some of those buildings in IL today.
You might’ve also read that Altgeld’s attempt to cap off his career with becoming Mayor of Chicago under a 3rd party Socialist banner blew up in his face. Of course, that didn’t benefit the Republicans as the openly pro-vice “anything goes” Democrat Carter Harrison, Jr. ended up winning. My cousin, Henry Kiel, served as Mayor of St. Louis during the last 2 years of Harrison’s reign (but ran a far different ship !), and I suspect either knew him or had dealings with him. Both of whom were only in their 30s when they began their long reigns in office.
Just check out any one in NY holding highly paid State, City, or Union position. Then check out the management of the NYT and local broadcast outlets.
Then, if you are really a glutton for punishment, do a little left-wing genealogy down in DC. If you're keeping score, the Commies won big ... or at least their families did! It just doesn't ever end. E.G., Al Gore's dad, himself a Senator, became a multi-millionaire because of the funds he received one way or the other from Armand Hammer, the American representative of the Soviet NKVD/KGB.
Oh, I know Gore, Sr. was Armand Hammer’s boy (Gore, Sr. was pretty much a failure at everything he tried with respect to business, so he was “bailed” out by powerful interests), and Hammer was Stalin’s personal capitalist. The family was compromised a LONG time ago. Scary stuff.
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