This Tony Phyrillas’ artical describes what it means to be a Democrat today.
My 30-day trial membership to the Democratic Party has expired. I decided not to renew. For those who haven’t been following some of my recent columns, a little background is in order. After 27 years as a registered Republican, I switched my voter registration about a month ago so I could vote in the Democratic primary against my incumbent state legislator.
The incumbent, an undistinguished career politician by the name of Dante Santoni Jr., gave himself a pay raise last year, doubled his pension a few years back and voted against a plan to bring meaningful property tax relief for his constituents.
I was hoping to join with my Democratic brethren to knock Santoni out in the primary. Unfortunately, Santoni won thenomination to seek another two-year term because two other Democrats running against Santoni split the anti-incumbent vote. When all the ballots were counted, Santoni received about 45 percent of the vote. That means 55 percent of the Democrats in his district — the clear majority — don’t want Santoni to continue as their state legislator.
Voters in the 126th District will get another chance to send Santoni into retirement in November. All registered voters, including independents and third-party members, get to vote in the general election. That’s bad news for Santoni. Not only do the majority of Democrats want change, but I’m sure Republicans and other voters will relish the prospect of getting rid of another Harrisburg pay-jacker.
I thought about living life as a Democrat, but it just didn’t feel right. I was embarrassed to tell the woman at the polling site which party I was going to vote in. I tried to say “Democrat” in a whisper, but she didn’t hear me, so I had to repeat the word out loud.
When I considered that the leadership of my adopted party consisted of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy, I knew I had to get out. There are many other reasons I didn’t fit in as Democrat. Here’s a few:
• You have to be against capital punishment, but support abortion on demand.
• You have to believe that businesses create oppression and governments create prosperity so you have to tax businesses out of existence.
• You have to believe that guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens are more of a threat than U.S. nuclear weapons technology in the hands of North Korean communists or Iranian fanatics.
• You have to believe that global temperatures are less affected by cyclical changes in the Earth’s climate and more affected by soccer moms driving SUV’s.
• You have to believe that there was no art before federal funding or there won’t be any more
“Sesame Street” unless the federal government pours millions into public television.
• You have to believe that the same teacher who can’t teach 4th-graders how to read is somehow qualified to teach those same kids about sex.
• You have to believe that hunters don’t care about nature, but People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals activists do.
• You have to believe that self-esteem is more important than actually doing something to earn it.
• You have to believe the National Rifle Association is bad because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the American Civil Liberties Union is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution.
• You have to believe that Margaret Sanger and Gloria Steinem are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and Thomas Edison.
• You have to believe that taxes are too low and politicians in Washington, D.C., know better about how to spend your money than you.
• You have to believe that standardized tests are inherently racist, but racial quotas and other government-imposed affirmative action programs are not.
• You have to believe the United States must spend billions of dollars to fund a corrupt organization like the United Nations, but we can’t defend ourselves unless the U.N. gives the OK.
• You have to believe that the United States is to blame for the 9/11 attacks because it wouldn’t allow Islamic fanatics to take control of the Middle East and most of Asia.
• You have to believe that the only reason socialism hasn’t worked anywhere it’s been tried over the past 100 years is because the right people haven’t been in charge.
• You have to believe that parades displaying drag queens and transvestites should be constitutionally protected but manger scenes at Christmas should be illegal.
As you can see, I just don’t fit in today’s Democratic Party.
