Democrats

1976, 1992, 1996, 2008, and 2012.

These were not years when the Democratic Party swung farther to the left to win. In 1976 Carter won in a year that was a reaction to Watergate. He was an outsider to the "corrupt," politics that led to Nixon leaving office. Also, Ford was generally perceived as being incompetent. Bill Clinton was the leader of a movement that nudged the Democratic Party to the right in 1992. Clinton, a centrist Democrat was re-elected in 1996. Barrack Obama, who this week warned the party against moving to the left for the upcoming election, won in 2008 and 2012. Thank you for making my argument for me.

The Blue Waves of 2018 and 2019 were dominated by moderate/liberal Democrats A handful of outstanding Progressives, led by AOC have dominated the news. But, the recently elected Democratic Governor of Kentucky avoided most "progressive," messages and barely won in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 49.9% to 41.8%, yet have two Republican Senators and few other Democrats elected to office.

You know what's funny? During those years, conservative echo-chambers screamed bloody Communism of the first degree after those election results.

It's only now that we're safely in the future cushioned by what you assume to be enough time for us to forget that you can say that they were not particularly swinging to the left to win. That they were middle-of-the-road people pandering to a middle ground with elements of social programs but a commitment to capitalism as a foundational principle. Because that's what they were all along.

But 25 years ago, the screams of red takeover because Bill Clinton won were deafening.

Unfortunately for you, I remember clearly well that this song and dance was on loop in 1976, and 1992, and 1996, and 2008, and 2012.

Listen and listen well: there is no far left-wing party in America. There isn't even a near-left wing party in America. There are two right-wing parties - and one of them is really really REALLY nuts-to-the-wall off-the-scale right wing - but make no mistake, both are basically right wing, even with AOC, even with the Squad, even with Elizabeth Warren. There is no swing to the far left and twenty-five years from now, you'll be back-peddling on this meme as well.

I lived through the "Red Scare," from the far right,But, I also remember that Everett Dirksen had to marshall the moderates in the Republican Party to get major social legislation passed. I remember that Ed Brooke was the first post Reconstruction Black Senator in the early 1960s, and was a Republican. I remember "None Dare Call It Treason," from the far right. Republicans were rabidly anti-Communist. But, John Kennedy was also an anti-Communist. Ben Bradlee, wrote that Kennedy was also very critical of men who did not serve in the military, during the war. He was a bit of a cold warrior, but not as extreme as Ray Cohn, who his brother Robert worked along side and had nice things to say about. Liberals, in those days would not have tolerated Bernie Sanders trying to hijack the party for his own egotistical reasons. Henry Wallace was dumped from the Democratic Tidket in 1944, because FDR was expected to die, and many party leaders felt a "progressive," would lose the presidency for us. In fact racist, Strom Thurmond, got over 30-electoral votes to the Progressive Party's Wallace's zero, in 1948.

You must not have been paying attention in 1992, because you would know that Bill Clinton was a founding member of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, which was opposed by more liberal party members who preferred, Senators McCarthy, Psongas or Harkin.

Fast forward to 2019 and the Gallup Poll shows that conservatives hold a plurality of voters leaning toward them, with moderates coming in second and liberals third. In fact there is no far left wing party. But, there is a concerted effort to convince Democrats to move to the left. The Democratic Party is a mostly liberal party. Liberals are more like Buttigieg and Klobuchar than Sanders and Warren. While there is room in the party for people from moderates to progressives, there is a Progressive Party, and it is not us. If we want to lose in 2020, we will continue to attack average Democrats, split the party and insult moderate Republicans looking for someone to vote for next year.