Peggy Noonan: They Got What They Wanted - Can the Democrats Find a Purpose?

OpinionJournal.com ^ | December 8, 2002 | Peggy Noonan

[Timesink]

Can the Democrats find a purpose?

Friday, November 8, 2002 12:01 a.m.

Every party has a reason for being. The Republican Party was formed in the mid-19th century to achieve a specific historical goal: the end of slavery. From there it became the party of Lincoln, the party that saved the Republic and, ultimately, the party that gave a natural home to those who felt enslaved by big government, high taxes, big regulation.

[Timesink]

A Peggy Noonan home run!

[patriciaruth]

Hillary may end up the face of the New Democrat Party, but she will not resonate in flyover country.

The last time she showed up there she was smiling and laughing and clapping at Paul Wellstone's memorial pep rally, and hobknobbing happily with other corrupt Democrat dinosaurs.

The Clintons deserted Arkansas and the little guy for big city lights and power, and the little guys will eventually figure this out.

[fporretto]

It isn't often that I disagree with the extraordinary Peggy Noonan, whose gifts put her next to Mark Steyn at the summit of the opinion-editorial art, but she leads off this otherwise fine and important essay with an outright misstatement:

Every party has a reason for being. The Republican Party was formed in the mid-19th century to achieve a specific historical goal: the end of slavery. From there it became the party of Lincoln, the party that saved the Republic and, ultimately, the party that gave a natural home to those who felt enslaved by big government, high taxes, big regulation.

Though the abolition of slavery was indeed one of its primary goals, the early Republican Party was not the anti-statist jewel Miss Noonan makes it out to be. In fact, that's a rather recent development -- about the time of Warren Harding.

Up to the 1896 Presidential election, the Republican Party was the more statist of the two major parties. Its platform included high tariffs, Prohibition, massive "internal improvements" (i.e., public works projects), and deliberate inflation through a monopoly central bank. Its overall orientation was toward regimentation of the citizenry and a pro-regulation, proto-fascist attitude toward domestic business, which essentially incorporated the largest industrialists and rail barons in the ruling fold. (Regulation was seen as a tool by which to assist the largest companies in warding off competition, then as now.)

The 1896 capture of the Democratic Party away from the libertarian Grover Cleveland faction by the Jennings Bryan Progressive wing caused a mass migration of liberty-oriented Cleveland Democrats to the GOP. To accommodate them, the GOP dropped its inflationism and embraced the gold standard (a Cleveland priority), muted its emphasis on public works projects, and dropped Prohibition from its agenda as well. This made it into the embryo of the modern Republican Party, in which emphasis on personal liberty and low taxes are married somewhat uneasily to a degree of indulgence toward large domestic corporations. (The Democratic Party simply became more and more statist, as the Progressives were displaced by American Socialists under the influence of John Dewey.)

All of this is summarized in a brief but incisive history of the late 19th Century that Ron Paul included in his book The Case For Gold. Paul Johnson also covers some of it, and the developments that proceeded from it, in his 20th Century history Modern Times.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

[pt17]

A Peggy Noonan home run!

Yes, indeed she did. When you contrast Peggy's editorials against someone from the other side like, say, Mo Dowd(y), a thinking person can readily discern basic differences between the two: Mature logic and reason versus immature emotional instability and condescension. The difference are quite stark.

[SkyPilot]

Democrats will be very happy when their "dream candidate"--the Anti-Christ comes to power.

Until then, I hope they continue losing--so America can be blessed.

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Well said.

[2nd_Amendment_Defender]

Democrats will be very happy when their "dream candidate"--the Anti-Christ comes to power.

I thought Bill Clinton was the Anti-Christ! Heh heh :-)

[river rat]

"Hillary Clinton just may be where the party is going.

The whole party is going to become Lesbians!

How will anyone be able to see Hillary! as the new face of the Democrat party - if her face is shoved in some woman's ......., oh- never mind.
Semper Fi

[PGalt]

Good post, thanks for the history.

[William McKinley]

One can read a lot about this evolution in the book In The Days Of McKinley, too.

[nicmarlo]

The Republican Party was formed in the mid-19th century to achieve a specific historical goal: the end of slavery.

Tell me, why does this CONTINUE to be LOST on black people today? The Repub. party is and has been looked at by them as their worst enemy, rather than the over century-long "helper" toward their equality? They keep voting RAT, who do nothing but USE THEM. And those blacks who do "see the light" and leave the Rats are persecuted and openly humiliated by the Rats (i.e., Powell, Condi....there are others).

Even their self-appointed "black leader," Klintoon, had appointed no blacks in his cabinet; instead, he surrounds himself by people of color only when a camera is present.

This reminds me of his always holding a Bible in front of cameras on Sunday, but a lying, raping, deceiving, coke-head 24/7. But Christians didn't fall for this display. We could plainly SEE he exhibits no admirable qualities whatsoever much less those which Christ requires of His people.

[RWG]

They have achieved every major goal they sought in the past 100 years...not so, the health care plan authored by clinton lost big time and that was a major goal.

[GailA]

Noonan bump..if you haven't read her book on Ronald Reagan do so...I learned a lot.

[thisiskubrick]

Yes, indeed she did. When you contrast Peggy's editorials against someone from the other side like, say, Mo Dowd(y), a thinking person can readily discern basic differences between the two: Mature logic and reason versus immature emotional instability and condescension. The difference are quite stark.

Not that Ann Coulter figures into this equation.

[pt17]

Not that Ann Coulter figures into this equation

Being slow and (more than a little) dense this morning, perhaps you could help me understand what your point is.

[GaltMeister]

Peggy bump for later read

[MHT]

The "face" of the Democrat party has been a morph of the Clinton's and Dasshole (the media really doesn't like photographing Gephardt--not telegenic). The pictures of Bill and Hill laughing and clapping at the Wellstone memorial like they were at a rock concert and glad the guy was dead were nails in the coffin. Furthermore, the constantly-constipated news conferences with Tom Dasshole about why he couldn't support this or that or another judicial nominee got tiresome. He was negative and whiny, not good traits when compared with photos of a healthy, masculine, energetic guy like W.

The thing that Peggy Noonan did not mention was that the Dems HAVE to move left because, contrary to what she wrote, the extremists DO have someplace they can go. They can go Independent or Green. Just as the Libertarian vote could have saved Thune, Nader halted Gore in Florida. Clinton knew that the Democrat party is like a European coalition of environmentalists (incl. anti-gun, anti-smoking), gays, teachers, NAACP, and NOW, funded by unions and trial lawyers. [The native Americans tried to get into this minority mix when they attempted to "buy" their lands back from Clinton while he was Prez.] These aren't "little guys" but organized movements with big budgets. Without this odd marriage of special interest groups, they have no real base. Every platform has to have something for everyone of them and that spells more spending, regulation, litigation, and big government. So...

The Dems DO have a message and over-taxed citizens are tired of losing their jobs to lesser-qualified "minorities" (even if you are in a minority, there is always another minority more fashionable); finding out their kids can't add; following "Simon Says" rules regarding where they can't hike, smoke, or fish; and, watching judges let criminals off, award rug-burn victims millions of dollars, and re-write the Pledge.

Mondale revealed the Democrat mission in 1984---"We're going to tax their a**es off!" That has been their mantra and raison d'etre since 1932. Unless there is a large economic base producing enough taxes to please the special interest "beggers" (or if the special interests members increase their voting populations faster than the economy grows, which could happen), they will be the minority party for awhile.

[Magnolia]

Now they have only the media. That's a lot, but Paula Zahn is not a state, at least not yet, and she doesn't get a vote in the Senate.

LOL! Loved this line...

[bfree]

The problem the Democrats have with their base is that it isn't liberal in the way the Democratic leadership in general is liberal. It is left-wing, and some parts of it are way left-wing. The last socialists are there, the warriors of race and class; there are environmentalists who want to set loggers on fire, people who think George W. Bush killed Paul Wellstone, activists whose only concern in the world is abortion rights, and people who support capital punishment for only one crime, smoking in public. Soon they will demand the death penalty for smoking in private. (Are there radicals and nuts in the Republican base? Sure. But 20 years of observation tells me there aren't as many and they don't have the same clout. Moreover, Republican candidates are somewhat protected from them. The protection comes from the media, which hate nutty right-wingers more than they dislike Republicans.)

My alltime favorite paragraph!!!

[mor40]

Great Article.

My concern is that in all this "what do Democrats do now" thinking, we don't drop the ball and not concentrate on "what Republicans do now".

Republicans now have a great opportunity to communicate a vision and act consistently with that vision. There are still many challenges ahead. I'm not so sure that conservative principles have swept the nation (although I hope that they do).

Pray daily that God will grant His grace to this nation and wisdom to our leaders.

May God bless the U.S.A.