How the Democratic Party Sees America

Friends and even some relatives who knew me way back when I was a Democrat think I became a Republican because I started making money.  That’s why they think everyone who used to be a Democrat becomes a Republican.

That kind of thinking – that once you have something in the bank you forget where you came from (in my case the South Bronx) -- might make them feel good about how “pure” they are for staying put in the Democratic Party, but they’re wrong about what motivated me to leave.

Yes, I like GOP policy on taxes – lower rather than higher.  But money wasn’t the driving force in my evolution.  How the Democrats saw (and continue to see) America was what pushed me away from the party I used to embrace.

To a lot of Democrats, America is a dark place where racism is rampant. So is sexism. So is hatred of immigrants. To Democrats, the glass is always half empty – and I’m being generous in that appraisal.

It was just about all you heard at their convention last week. "There was a nonstop hum of grievance at the convention," is how Peggy Noonan put it in her Wall Street Journal column. “To show their ferocious sincerity in the struggle against America’s injustices, most of the speakers thought they had to beat the crap out of the country – over and over. ... The charges, direct and indirect, never let up. Little love was expressed, little gratitude. Everyone was sort of overcoming being born here.”

Pete Buttigieg wondered if we "Can we become a country that lives up to the truth that Black Lives Matter."

Kamala Harris talked about "structural racism" and told us that, “There is no vaccine for racism, we have got to do the work.”

Even Joe Biden, whose speech was basically upbeat and who said America is "generous and strong," felt the need to tell us that it was time "to do the hard work of rooting out our systemic racism."

It's not that Democrats don't love America.  It's just that you get the impression they're not proud of the America we currently live in.  And it's not just because of Donald Trump who they spent an inordinate amount of time trashing.  You get the impression that they won't be proud of America until it's a perfect place. Until then, they won't really be happy with this country.

I’m not naïve. I know that bigotry still exists. In a country of 330 million people there are bound to be narrow-minded, hateful fools. But most Americans reject them and what passes for their ideology. Most of us don’t believe racism is “systemic” in this country; that it’s in our DNA. Most of us think that we’re better than that, better than we used to be.

Ronald Regan convinced voters that it was “Morning in America.” If it were nothing more than an empty political slogan it wouldn’t have resonated.

To Democrats it seems like it’s always Midnight in America.

That’s why I evolved. That’s why I’m not on the blue team anymore.

You don’t have to cheer for Donald Trump (or even vote for him) to reject the Democratic Party’s vision of America.

Money didn’t drive me into the arms of the Republican Party. Democrats did. And if I needed a reminder about why I left their party, one speaker after another at their convention … provided it.