WHERE HAVE ALL THE DEMOCRATS GONE?
By: Amy Siskind
On the morning of June 4, 2008, I cried two tears.
One for the realization that the candidate of my lifetime, Hillary Rodham Clinton, would soon suspend her campaign. One for seeing the Democratic Party, so much a part of who I am, lose its way.
When I was a little girl growing up in a suburb of Boston, my mother taught me the meaning of being a Democrat. She taught me the core values of our party – equality and helping those less fortunate. My mother sat me down and told me stories about growing up in the Depression and how FDR created jobs for those that needed help. How these jobs gave people pride and hope. She told me stories of Eleanor Roosevelt and how Eleanor relentlessly fought for equality, and how she gave a voice to those that did not have one. She told me stories of the Kennedy’s and how they gave their lives to fight for the values of the Democratic Party. Such brave men and women. Such pride to be a Democrat.
As I became an adult, I proudly declared myself a Democrat and worked to embrace the values of the party. Even when it was unpopular to be a Democrat, I stood by my party. Even when I was one of the few on the trading floors of Wall Street to vote Democrat, I held my head high remembering the brave men and women who had fought so hard to shape our country. Knowing with an inner confidence and sense of pride that the Democratic Party would stand by its core values of equality and helping those less fortunate. Knowing that from decade to decade and from election to election, that the issues may change, but that with these core values, our party would always get to where we needed to be. But now I must ask, Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
My fellow Democrats, as this primary season started, something was terribly wrong. I have watched this race unfold with a mixture of shock, disgrace and disgust.
* I have watched as the DNC Leadership stood idly while our first female candidate was repeatedly the target of overt sexism in the media. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
* I have watched as the DNC Leadership stood idly by when Reverend Phlager took a very personal and demeaning swipe at Hillary Clinton. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
* I have watched as the DNC Leadership actively and repeatedly tried to force out a candidate who ultimately received over 18 million votes from those who WANTED to have THEIR voices heard. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
* I have watched as the DNC Leadership stood idly by as Bill Clinton, the most popular modern day Democratic President, was ripped to shreds and called a “racist.” Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
* I have watched as the DNC Leadership, so quick to be critical of the Supreme Court for their 2000 decisions on Florida, would then sit idly by while Florida and Michigan voters were alienated. Where Have All the Democrats Gone?
Well the sad fact is, I cannot stand to watch this anymore!
I have a view that is most unfortunate -- and that view is that perhaps BOTH parties have lost their way. The Republican Party realizes this fact and is actively moving to understand how they must change their platform and focus and fix their party. The Democratic Party, the party formerly of the brave and courageous, the party that formerly stood for equality and helping those less fortunate, has instead become the party of hubris and elitism. Where, oh where, have all the Democrats gone?
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