HORIST: Democrats do have a ‘platform’

The common refrain across the political spectrum is that the Democratic Party has no platform, no policies, no proposals.  This is a criticism advanced by Republicans as well as many Democrats.  However, it may be an unfair and inaccurate assessment. 

One might argue that the Democratic Party that is currently controlled by the radical left has a “platform” with specific policies and positions.  So, let’s look at policies from the Democrat point-of-view.  Let’s see what America might look like if left-wing Democrats should assume power in the coming years.

In terms of the federal government, Democrats favor a more powerful and influential federal government with an ever-increasing number of regulations.  They predicate this need on a belief that the average American lacks the knowledge and moral standards to self-govern.  The Democrat’s left-wing doctrine declares themselves to be a self-appointed elite class that, in an arrogant spirit of noblesse oblige, needs to rule over and provide for the less able masses.

Democrats favor a shift in programs and power away from state and local governments, where we the people can exert our greatest influence.  They prefer to amass more and more power in the central government in Washington that can be managed by an establishment ruling class.

Contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution, Democrats believe that sovereignty rests with government – not in the soul of the people.  They do not see rights as inalienable, but rather to be granted or not granted by government.

Consistent with this philosophy, Democrats favor a massive, unaccountable and powerful bureaucracy that promulgates extensive laws in the form of regulations – actually legislating far more than the Congress.

Democrats believe that bureaucrats, who are beyond the view and the reach of the people, should have more authority than elected officials and more privilege than the common citizen.  Democrats believe that bureaucrats deserve higher pay, better benefits and extraordinary multiple retirement programs.  It is the reason why the vast majority of bureaucrats are Democrats – as evidenced in the voting patterns of those wealthy communities that abut on the nation’s capital.

To sustain a federal bureaucracy of unrestrained growth and spending, Democrats believe that their government must confiscate and redistribute more and more of the working classes’ productivity – meaning money.  For this reason, Democrats have long been known as the Party of “tax and spend.”

According to the Democrat “platform,” the right to vote needs to be extended to non-citizens, illegal aliens and convicted felons.  Maybe folks on visitors’ visas will be next.  Citizenship should not have special meaning or special rights in the Democratic Party playbook.

To ensure that anyone who happens to pass by a polling place on Election Day can cast a ballot, Democrats oppose any strict regulations that would guarantee that the would-be voter is legitimate and properly registered – such as presenting an official photo-ID of some sort.

At times, it even seems that Democrats believe the dearly departed should still retain the right to vote by not deleting the deceased from the voting rolls.  Such names on the rolls can also be used by otherwise ineligible voters.  These provisions are particularly favored by the Democrat political machines in the major American cities.

To ensure a steady stream of ineligible voters, Democrats believe in an open border policy – essentially a no border policy.  They believe that there should be no distinction between those who enter the United States legally and those who enter illegally.  They believe that should a border security guard capture a person entering the country illegally, the individual should be informed of the dubious rights and released into the general population.

To further ensure that Illegal aliens have unfettered access to America, Democrats want to abolish the Immigration Control and Enforcement Agency (ICE) – the organization that tracks down criminal illegal aliens, and fights drug and human trafficking.

In addition to voting rights, Democrats believe that being in the country illegally should not be a barrier to access to free education, welfare, healthcare and driving licenses – which can be used as an ID for voting in states that do require proof of eligibility.

Democrats prefer a society based on identity politics and political correctness in which society is divided into oppressors and victims of oppressors rather than American historical culture of e pluribus unum.  In a peculiar notion of equality, Democrats promote special privileges for what they call “protected classes” — you know, those who need protection from the imaginary oppressors.

Democrats believe that free-enterprise capitalism is a basically evil and greedy institution that oppresses the working class – and the government is the better provider of jobs.

The Democrat “platform” rejects individual choice in a belief that citizens must be protected from their own bad habits.  They believe in laws, not education, to prevent people from drinking a 42-ounce soda, eating a rare hamburger or raising chubby children.  They reject the notion that we the people should be free to choose because they fear we will not make the choices they demand.

They believe that children are the responsibility of the state – often euphemistically referred to as “the village.”  In their world, a 13-year-old girl can get birth control pills or even an abortion without the consent or knowledge of the parents.

Like the radical left-wing authoritarians in Russia and China, contemporary Democrats believe that religion is a philosophy based on ignorance.  It has no place in the commons.

Democrats, who control our educations systems, reject the notion that such academic intuitions were established to encourage thinking.  Rather, they see them as institutions of indoctrination where opposing opinions are to be disregarded and even disallowed.  The unencumbered constitutional right of free speech is to be oppressed by the imposition of a pre-approved fixed value structure.

Democrats want activist judges who create laws to promote and protect the liberal agenda rather than the Constitution.  Rather than an independent branch of government, as established in our tripartite separation of powers, Democrats view the judiciary as their political enforcement arm.

As with all authoritarian movements, Democrats do not believe in a citizen’s right to bear arms.  Though they lack the political gravitas to ban all such instruments of personal protection at this time, they would if they could.  They understand that an armed populace is very difficult to oppress.

Perhaps the most important plank in the Democratic Party Platform is to hate President Trump, Republicans, conservatives and all those they have slandered as ignorant, immoral and intolerant deplorables.

So … the Democratic Party does NOT have a “platform?”  Au Contraire.  They have a very clear agenda for America.  It is the agenda that voters have been rejecting since 2010.  It is the agenda that has given the Republican Party and conservatives more political power than at any time since the post-Civil War Reconstruction Period.  Theirs is the antithesis of America’s founding culture of limited government, low taxes, personal freedom and a devotion to a Constitution rather than a malignant philosophy based on elitist power.

Larry Horist is a conservative activist with an extensive background in economics, public policy and political issues. Clients of his consulting firm have included such conservative icons as Steve Forbes and Milton Friedman, and he has served as a consultant to the White House under Presidents Nixon and Reagan. He has testified as an expert witness before numerous legislative bodies, including the U. S. Congress and lectured at Harvard University, Northwestern University, Florida Atlantic University, Knox College and Hope College. An award winning debater, his insightful and sometimes controversial commentaries appear frequently on the editorial pages of newspapers across the nation. He can be reached at lph@thomasandjoyce.com.