Dinesh D'Souza: The secret history of the Democratic Party

Fox News ^ | July 22, 2016 | Dinesh D'Souza

[NYer]

Editor's note: The following column is excerpted from D'Souza's book, "Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party" (Regnery Publishing, July 18, 2016).

Contrary to what we learn from progressives in education and media, the history of the Democratic Party well into the twentieth century is virtually uninterrupted history of thievery, corruption and bigotry.  American history is the story of Democratic malefactors and Republican heroes.  Yes, it’s true.

I begin with Andrew Jackson. He, not Thomas Jefferson or FDR,is the true founder of the modern Democratic Party.  Progressives today are divided about Jackson.  Some, like historian Sean Wilentz, admire him, while others want to remove him from the $20 bill because he was a slaveowner and a vicious Indian fighter.  He was, in this view, a very bad American. 

I support the debunking of Jackson, but not because he was a bad American—rather, because he was a typical crooked Democrat.  Jackson established the Democratic Party as the party of theft.  He mastered the art of stealing land from the Indians and then selling it at giveaway prices to white settlers.  Jackson’s expectation was that those people would support him politically, as indeed they did.  Jackson was indeed a “man of the people,” but his popularity was that of a gang leader who distributes his spoils in exchange for loyalty on the part of those who benefit from his crimes. 

Jackson also figured out how to benefit personally from his land-stealing.  Like Hillary Clinton, he started out broke and then became one of the richest people in the country.  How?  Jackson and his partners and cronies made early bids on Indian land, sometimes even before the Indians had been evacuated from that land.  They acquired the land for little or nothing and later sold it for a handsome profit. 

[NYer]

I wonder did the movie specifically mention William M. "Boss" Tweed, who ran a graft scheme while heading Tammany Hall,

The movie is packed with so many names, events, history but not Tweed. Probably not enough time to cover him. However, Dinesh does show the connection between Clinton and Alinsky, in great detail. It also shows how Hillary fronted for the bevy of Bill's affairs and only got upset when he got caught. It also showed how they cleaned out the White House when they departed. The audience loved it!

[HokieMom]

Saw it yesterday. Love D’souza’s investigative style. Every one should see the Obama one, too.