I see what they mean. People who feel they are part of an oppressed minority group, or who feel a need to go on a crusade to fix society in some way, tend to be Democrats. On subjects such as gay rights, women’s abortion rights, Al Gore and global warming, the vast majority of people involved are Democrats. (Except for those who are too far left for even the Democrat party).
It’s easy to generalize, but Democrats tend to be people with some sort of grievance against the mainstream society. Democrats tend to be idealistic about whatever crusade they are on. Democrats tend to pursue their crusades with a religious zeal, while generally not being religious themselves, regarding traditional religion. Democrats tend to focus on abstract things like global warming, and warn us that the survival of the planet is at stake. Yet those same people don’t recognize the obvious threats to civilization as we know it from terrorism or evil dictators around the world.
It’s easy to generalize, but by contrast, the Republican party tends to be made up of people who are just living their lives, and their lives tend to be centered around settled family life. The Democrats on their crusades about this or that subject don’t have the time or the inclination to be involved with family life.
I think your rank-and-file democrats are well-meaning people (I mean the voters, not the partisan hacks). They get drawn in because the democrats say they ‘care’ and they want to ‘help people’. Who doesn’t want to help people?
The problem is that helping people is not the job of the federal government. Local community organizations help people. You could argue that the state governments help people.
That’s not what the federal government was created for, however, and it’s never been equiped to do it effectively or efficiently.
That’s what gets lost on your rank-and-file dems. IMO, of course.