Monday, March 29, 2004
There is an interesting book review in today's L.A. Times. The books under discussion are a pair of political histories, one of the Republican party and one of the Democrats. I continue to pursue an answer to my question of how our current (really, post-WWII) system of two ideologically polarized parties got to be the way it is, and whether things made more sense before, so I found myself very interested in these books. As I've mentioned before, it used to be that conservative Democrats and progressive Republicans were powerful and respected wings within their respective parties. But as this L.A. Times article recouts, the stifling of Teddy Roosevelt's attempt at a comeback by Republican bosses in 1912 dealt a huge blow to the progressive wing of that party, which has slowly dwindled ever since. On the other side, the (laudable) purification of the Democratic Party on the issue of civil rights, which begain with Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey in 1948, did not stop there but continued to eject conservatives and moderates of every stripe, culminating in the 1992 Democratic convention at which Gov. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania was humiliatingly shunned simply because he was pro-life.
I have a personal reason for my question: I am bothered by the Republicans' tendency to oppose government services and regulation whenever they can, and to generally do whatever is best for large corporations; but at the same time I am far more worried by the Democrats' radical social agenda. I also wish that both parties were less doctrinaire and more pragmatic on issues in general, as indeed they used to be. So, by process of elimination, I am currently left as a somewhat uncomfortable Republican. But I still find myself wondering if there is (or was) some reason for being a Democrat other than the radical special interest groups that currently dominate the party, and if so whether it might appeal to me. I did finally read Sen. Zell Miller's book, but I'm afraid I found it rather disappointing as far as my purposes are concerned (I do plan to blog about the book, but I think it'll have to wait until we're settled in Ithaca), so the search continues. I have reserved Party of the People: A History of the Democrats (one of the two books reviewed in the above LAT article) at the library, and hopefully I will get it in time to read it on the plane next weekend (after my dissertation is submitted, of course). We'll see if it answers any of my questions. I am also reminded of the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, who are a voting bloc of conservative Dems in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is even an online Blue Dog group, which I might check out after the move. But I'm afraid that these Blue Dogs might just be conservative economically and still liberal socially, which would be even closer to the exact opposite of my views.
I have a personal reason for my question: I am bothered by the Republicans' tendency to oppose government services and regulation whenever they can, and to generally do whatever is best for large corporations; but at the same time I am far more worried by the Democrats' radical social agenda. I also wish that both parties were less doctrinaire and more pragmatic on issues in general, as indeed they used to be. So, by process of elimination, I am currently left as a somewhat uncomfortable Republican. But I still find myself wondering if there is (or was) some reason for being a Democrat other than the radical special interest groups that currently dominate the party, and if so whether it might appeal to me. I did finally read Sen. Zell Miller's book, but I'm afraid I found it rather disappointing as far as my purposes are concerned (I do plan to blog about the book, but I think it'll have to wait until we're settled in Ithaca), so the search continues. I have reserved Party of the People: A History of the Democrats (one of the two books reviewed in the above LAT article) at the library, and hopefully I will get it in time to read it on the plane next weekend (after my dissertation is submitted, of course). We'll see if it answers any of my questions. I am also reminded of the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, who are a voting bloc of conservative Dems in the U.S. House of Representatives. There is even an online Blue Dog group, which I might check out after the move. But I'm afraid that these Blue Dogs might just be conservative economically and still liberal socially, which would be even closer to the exact opposite of my views.
Posted by Matt on 3/29/2004 12:51:00 AM 
My thoughts, profundity not guaranteed
