Is It Bad to Be a Democrat?

My father-in-law describes himself as a die-hard Democrat, a died in wool Democrat, a life-long Democrat, I believe I've heard it all...all meaning, I was a Democrat, am a Democrat and will always be a Democrat.

This is sometimes a hard pill for my husband to swallow, as we don't share the same party affiliation. But in his case, I think we understand. He has his mind set on what the party was so many years ago. And what was it?

The following is a small section taken from a great page on the history of the democratic party on "The Democratic Party" website:

"Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party in 1792 as a congressional caucus
to fight for the Bill of Rights and against the elitist Federalist Party. In 1798, the 'party of the common man' was officially named the Democratic-Republican Party and in 1800 elected Jefferson as the first Democratic President of the United States. Jefferson served two distinguished terms and was followed by James Madison in 1808. Madison strengthened America's armed forces — helping reaffirm American independence by defeating the British in the War of 1812. James Monroe was elected president in 1816 and led the nation through a time commonly known as "The Era of Good Feeling" in which Democratic-Republicans served with little opposition."

The rest of the article gives a great background into the party.

My father-in-law was and is a "common man". He worked hard all of his life, and never became wealthy. I really don't think he spends a lot of time pondering what a Democrat is now, he just is one, and that's all there is too it.

I do think that there are many democrats...and republicans...that have a great concern for the needs of the "common man". The the thing that my husband....and I....struggle with is the new breed of Democrat. Mind you, I know that not every democrat is "bad". But I am put off by the stands taken for things that are so obviously immoral, like:

• - The tendency to support the killing tiny babies (a/k/a abortion).
• - The leaning toward promoting gay rights (I love gay people, but believe what they practice goes against the Creator's design for a man and a woman...a simple anatomy lesson proves that)
• - The disrespect shown to our President (what happened to respect for authority? I guess that went out the window when those of us who are "Baby Boomer's" went through the hippy years, the ultimate time of rebellion against "the establishment"...and both parties can be guilty of disrespect, by the way.
• ...and a number of things that I know I'm not the first to mention.

Those are just some obvious things to me, and all of this makes it very hard for me to feel GOOD about getting behind such a party, in fact, I'm re-evaluating where I stand as far as party politics goes. I even see many in my own party not making the stands that they should.

Oh, did I mention that I love my Democratic father-in-law to pieces? He's really a treasure!