What it takes to be a "Democrat": you simply declare that you are one.

[Atticus]

Apparently, it is no longer necessary that you have certain beliefs or favor certain constituencies or oppose the excesses of the opposition.
Nope, you don't have to bother with any of that "nonsense" anymore. You just declare yourself a Democrat and then speak or vote as you damn well please. MONEY is the name of the modern game, after all, and idealistic tripe like Principles and Loyalty and Integrity are---what's the word?---ah, yes: "quaint".

If those in Congress who sit on our side of the aisle yet intend to vote for this GOP budget are Democrats, I am not a Democrat and don't want to be one.

[liberal_at_heart]

1. there certainly isn't a platform anymore. It's a free for all.

[VanillaRhapsody]

3. Oh really?

http://www.ontheissues.org/democratic_party.htm


Democratic Party is a Populist-Leaning Liberal.

[Odin2005]

10. That site is bullshit.

Both parties are objectively right-wing authoritarians and all that site shows is both how narrow and skewed the American political "spectrum" is.

http://www.politicalcompass.org/charts/us2012.php

Obama and Romney are almost in the same place.

[VanillaRhapsody]

11. Says you....

If you think Americans are going to EVER move far enough to the Left for your liking....you got another think coming....Let me introduce you to America....look around....look at our recent Midterms...do you reeeeeaaalllly see that happening any time soon? Also...please see my sig line it might be that shoe you were looking for...

[hrmjustin]

2. Well I am glad Senator Warren is standing up for us. n/t.

[Savannahmann]

4. It's become no different than choosing a favorite sports team.

You might be a fan of the NZ All Blacks. You might be a Falcon's fan. You might even favor the NY Mets. All of those may be your favorites, and you declare yourself a fan, a supporter, or whatever. The same way you declare yourself to be a Democrat or a Republican.

You stand for your team winning, and you stand for the other team losing. That's pretty much it for far too many in the Party.

[liberal_at_heart]

5. +1

[Andy823]

13. There is a big difference

You can pick a sports team to support, or be a fan of, and nothing really bad is going to happen if that team loses a game. It's not the same when picking a political party to support. Look at what Bush did to this country, the mess he left, and then compare it to the long hard job democrats have had to do to try and fix that mess, and it's not all the way fixed yet.

There is a lot of difference in supporting a party that has a track record, like the republicans, and one that always has to come in and clean up the mess left by republicans when they lose power and leave office. Democrats, even the ones you don't like or think are "real" democrats, do a lot more for the average person than republicans do.

Obama and the democrats have done a lot since he was elected. Do you think that a president McCain and VP Palin would have done as much? Pick the wrong political party and the country suffers, pick the right one and even though they may not always do everything you want them to do, at least they fix the mess left by the other party instead of making it worse.

[JEFF9K]

6. There used to be lots of conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans ...

when the country worked better.

[baldguy]

7. It also requires that you don't root for the Republican to win.

[Odin2005]

8. There is only one party, the Corporate Party.

One faction rants snout "defending family values" to get votes, the other faction fools the people into thinking they are helping them economically in order to get votes, then both factions do what their Capitalist owners tell them to do.

[Andy823]

14. So once again

It's the old "both teams are the same BS, but in reality they are NOT the same.

Where do you think this country would be right now if we had gotten president McCain and VP Palin instead of president Obama? Bush and the republicans took us to the edge of a cliff, and then left one of the worst messes in history for the next president to fix. Do you really think things would be better now if McCain would have been in charge?

[Odin2005]

17. According the the site Political Compass Obama, Hillary, Romney, and McCain...

...are all next to each other in the Authoritarian Right corner of their chart, along with the vast majority of American politicians.

[JI7]

9. it's always been like that, segregationists made up part of the party once

[wyldwolf]

18. and that's just an obvious example

Many here pretend the party didn't exist before 1932 and only existed until a decade or so after/

[wyldwolf]

12. What 'certain beliefs' has it ever taken to be a Democrat?

[brooklynite]

15. Of course, YOU know precisely which issues make a Democrat...

...and all REAL Democrats agree with you, right?

[alp227]

16. there's the downside of the Will Rogers "not a member of an organized political party" quote nt

[Scuba]

19. ...