I have never been a member of either American party.
My problem is much longer standing then just opposition to the current failure of the GOP. My problem is that I am a strong adherent to the ideals put forward by the two leaders I see as defining what America should be. Their idea is simple .. OPPORTUNITY.
Jefferson and ML King both believed strongly that America should offer its citizens the maximum opportunity to achieve. At times both parties have taken up this banner. The central cause of the Revolution was opportunity. From Lexington to Yorktown Americans fought to have their opportunities free from by serving the interests of the British king and his aristocracy. Eighty years later, the civil war, fought to preserve the Union was also the event the made slavery illegal. After that war, as the Democratic Party crumbled, the GOP used government and the ideas of the free market to develop American opportunity across this great continent. Teddy Roosevelt extended that by proclaiming our military would defend our access to our national parks. Teddy also began breaking up corporations because they has become concentration of wealth that limited the opportunities of other Americans. In the twentieth century the Democratic party remade itself. With deep roots in the union movement, the Democrats finally cut their ties to Southern racists and promoted freedom from racism. Names like Roosevelt and Johnson glow in the shadow of ML King just as the ideas of Jefferson illuminated the Revolution.
Great history. After all, Jefferson’s party bore both names .. from Jefferson to to John Quincy Adams, the party borer the name of Democrat Republicans. Later, the Republican Part arose as the fight against slavery drove the Union apart.
Today, both Party names often poorly reflect the ideals of Jefferson or King. The Democratic party has been obsessed with identity politics to the point that poor whites, especially men, are now a real minority in the party. Meanwhile, Trump’s GOP extols wealthism and barely cloaks its members’ racism.
So, here is what my party, the New Democrats, stands for: