General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Great essay written by a billionaire Dem [View all]Qutzupalotl
(14,399 posts)when many of our party leaders were cowed into giving Bush authority to invade Iraq, when party activists and knowledgeable weapons inspectors were ignored. Two of our later presidential candidates essentially voted to give Bush the green light. There was a shift back toward our ideals when Pelosi became speaker in 2007, raising the minimum wage. And I will concede we are listening more to our base now.
But few in our party have the stomach to advocate the only solution left for our deficit problem: raising taxes on the rich. Its as though weve forgotten where the top marginal rates were in the 50s and 60s. Or for the Social Security funding problem, lifting the cap. These solutions are seen by many as outside the mainstream, which is why I think the center has moved to the right, whether or not our party moved much: the Republicans have moved to the extreme right.