The Democratic Party Has A Historic Commitment To Advancing Human Rights

[ruggerson]

not denying them nor playing wedge politics with them nor asserting there is some kind of moral equivalence between bigots and those living under discrimination.

This is a profoundly serious issue for all of us, straight and gay, because it goes to the heart of understanding what being a Democrat means.

If we don't understand that and lend support to our very basic values, we are devoid of principle and have absolutely nothing to offer this nation.

[MuseRider]

1. Yes it is a profoundly serious issue.

Thank you for putting it down so well.

[TechBear_Seattle]

2. Only recently historic

Remember, the Democrats were the party of the Southern slaveholders; the Republican Party drew the loyalty of the abolotionists. That did not start changing until the 1950's and 60's.

[ruggerson]

4. No, that started changing in the 1920's - 1930's

blacks voted overwhelmingly for FDR.

We have an eighty plus year tradition of being the party that expands human rights.

[tritsofme]

6. More recent than many would like to think

A markedly higher percentage of Republicans voted in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than Democrats.

[ruggerson]

8. That's rightwing Republican nonsense

yes, Southern Democrats voted against it, but it was an overwhelmingly Democratic House and Senate which sponsored it, got the support for it, passed it and got it signed by a Democratic President.

Republicans were utterly powerless then. And in generations since, they have repeatedly made noises to try to dismantle it.

[truedelphi]

3. I agree. However it is not alwasy easy to be true to these values.

More than once I have read about how the Kennedy brothers were less than enthused about all the consternation and hand wringing that accompanied the Civil Rights movement.

They knew that their doing the right thing would alienate a lot of Southern Democrats.

And there was applause in at least one Texas High School when the principal announced that John Kennedy had been shot.

[ruggerson]

5. And Lyndon Johnson's famous words to Bill Moyers

when he signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“I’ve just turned the South over to the Republicans for your lifetime and mine.”

But he signed it.

He signed it.

[truedelphi]

11. I remember my dad quoting that comment.

As a child, I didn't know what it meant at all.

[jmp]

12. Would the Clintons have signed it?

Would any of the Democratic leaders in Congress?

Once upon a time ... leaders had courage.

Honest.

[eridani]

16. One of the most courageous acts by a Dem president, ever

Too bad there seems to be some kind of rule that you only get to do that once per political career, otherwise he might have displayed the same kind of courage about Vietnam. (His biographers all say he had really serious misgivings about staying in Vietnam.)

[Ethelk2044]

7. Human Rights means all rights. The Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians

Atheist, Religious, GBLT. All people not just one section of people.

[ruggerson]

9. Correct. Everybody but bigots.

[IndianaJones]

17. what exactly is this spout about? why does everything seem to be a contest for some people?

What do atheists and religious people have to do with all rights?

[FredScuttle]

10. Excellent post

sad that you need to reiterate what should be basic common sense to any progressive, liberal or Democrat with a sense of history and purpose.

[Mellowtone]

13. Another "holier than thou" thread...oh PUHLEAZZE!

This is just another attempt to co-opt your brain with all sorts of emotional argument.

The last sentence is the most convincing "we are devoid of principle and have absolutely nothing to offer this nation."

Get off your hight horse and come down to Earth, there are a lot of issues and the world is a complex place, your principles are fine, and all candidates agree, you however, think there is only ONE solution ... that's a dangerous place to be.

[JackBeck]

15. I don't think equality for all law abiding Americans is a dangerous position.

[denem]

18. The mellow tones of a screeching violin

Glad you don't get too emotional.

[John Q. Citizen]

14. i support the right to marry, and any candidate who doesn't isn't a Democrat, period!

Because, it's everybody's right, not just some.

Don't ask don't tell? Get back in the closet!

Clinton, Obama, and Edwards are all hypocrites.