Not your Parent's Democratic Party

"Senator Obama, would you raise taxes to bring about your goal of universal health coverage by the end of your first term?""I can tell you that I will do whatever it takes."************************"Senator Clinton, what about your new proposal for universal health coverage will be different this time around to guarantee succeeding [vs. the failed proposal of 1994]"?"We're going to change the way we finance the system by taking away money from people who are doing well now."***************************"What is the defining characteristic of your health care plan, Senator Edwards?""At a cost of less than $120 billion, we will require every employer to provide their employees coverage, so that we can be one America again?"************************All real questions. All real answers. The mere fact that each of the Democratic front-runners even advocates something called "universal health care" ought to send a chill down your spine, but when they explicitly advocate their socialistic referendum through promises of tax increases, redistribution of wealth, and brutal employer regulation, we can see how far this Democratic party has come. Keep in mind, I quoted candidates #1 - 3 here, and mercifully spared you the answers of Governor Bill Richardson, and Senator Christopher Dodd (#4 and #5).Ronald Reagan famously said that he did not leave the Democratic party, but rather, that "it left him". I share the sentiment of political strategist Frank Luntz, who recently told me, "this is not the Democratic party of our parents or grandparents".Indeed, if Harry Truman, or even John Kennedy, were running for President today, they would likely be running as Republicans (or, at the very least, very unpopular Democrats). Today's Democratic front-runners represent a sort of pro-tax, anti-business, anti-growth, anti-family, anti-business, anti-military, pro-Castro, pro-regulation, pro-entitlement culture that would make our parents shriek, regardless of their political ideology. The Dems of the 50's and 60's were obviously to the left of Barry Goldwater, but they did not overtly preach a gospel of American self-hatred, and they certainly did not participate in the kind of open class warfare today's Dems are proud to partake in. Hear what Hillary Clinton has to say about Exxon Mobil being required to donate a cut of their profits to a government-run "alternative energy fund", and one wants to beg for Lyndon Johnson. Count the times today's Dems refer to a "windfall tax", and one wishes JFK were back in the oval office (cutting marginal income rates, as conservatives often forget to remember that he earnestly did).I find John McCain to be a repugnant choice for the Republican nominee to be President (and thankfully, I am growing in confidence that his campaign is imploding). I am simply unable to wrap my arms around a man like Mitt Romney, recognizing that his flip flops on major issues likely represent a lot more than an understandable "changing of the mind". Even with my admiration for the track record and leadership skills of Rudy Giuliani (his critics who deny his track record at cutting taxes, shrinking bureaucracy, and fighting crime, are being disingenuous at best, and libelous at worst), his stated opinions on issues like abortion and gun control are reprehensible.However, I just want to remind my Republican friends that the three names I have mentioned above (not to mention the other potential GOP candidates who are in the race, or could be in the race at a later time), all represent a categorically undeniable improvement over the Jacques Chirac wing of American politics that has become today's Democratic Party. I find it incomprehensible that any lover of basic American freedoms would do anything that could inadvertently put Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama, or John Edwards in the White House. If I was choosing between John McCain and John Kennedy, perhaps I would feel differently, but today's Dems are not yesterday's, and we are just not in a position to be as choosy as we wish we could be. I will fight to the best of my ability for the right candidate (even though the "right" one will still be imperfect) throughout the primary, and right now, I can only say that I pray and pray that it will not be John McCain. However, regardless of who one's preference may be now (and there is room for divergent opinions here), my urgent plea to all lovers of the free market system, and more importantly, lovers of the American way, is that we not let one of today's Democrats be elected President.