Thursday, December 1, 2016

Why Be a Democrat?

Our county executive committee will meet tonight and discuss a path forward. Although we seem to be good at winning local elections, we are an aging committee that could use a jump start. Since the election, we've had a bunch of people come forward, wanting to join.

I am reminded of this piece I wrote several years ago for our Dryden Democrats' website. It pretty much sums up the reasons to keep on with this Party, however damaged it may seem right now.

In these contentious times, it sometimes seems needlessly quarrelsome to admit to a partisan bias. We Dryden Democrats have thought long and hard about why we chose one party over the other. We believe that there is an essential difference between the major parties--not an insurmountable barrier, but a distinct difference in how we view the world and our place within it.

As Democrats, we believe that the problems of our neighbors are our problems and that the future of any child is our future, too. We believe in that “more perfect union” promised by the preamble to our Constitution; we are eternal optimists. We believe in open government and personal privacy. We believe that the people are the government, and that participation is crucial to the preservation of freedom.

We may be Democrats because our parents were or because we changed our minds after years of living and learning. Some of us are lifelong Dryden residents; some of us chose Dryden from a wealth of options; and some of us just landed here, looked around, and liked what we saw. We are Democrats because the phrase “justice for all” speaks to us, because we believe in fairness and family, because we believe in the right of all Americans to live in dignity and in the people-driven potential of government to see that they do.

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