Guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Kenney: Oh Where, Oh Where Have the Democrats Gone?

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Guest MINDSETTER™ Tom Kenney

Oh where, oh where have the Democrats gone?

That is the question I want answered in this political season. It used to be that the Democratic Party was described as “the working man’s party”. Well, I’m sorry to say that this is no longer the case. If I were to describe the modern Democratic Party I would call it “the non-offensive, politically correct, bleeding heart, special interest pleasing, giving away the store party!"

In this day and age, where the ultimate goal of every politician is re-election at any cost, the Democrats haven’t yet learned that their greatest chance of re-election would be to court the working man. Yet, they continue to fold under pressure from outside sources and the media to allow the fiscally conservative types to hack away at union protection for workers, pension benefits and other workplace protections that workers have fought many years to achieve.

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Instead, they continue to court the entitlement grabbing, life-long and generational governmental assistance takers and other special interest groups such as those attempting to allow our borders to be wide open without any restrictions. They give them cell phones and other obscenely unnecessary benefits at the cost of the working people of this country. They’re afraid to say no to any special interest group that whines loud enough about a perceived injustice even at the cost of changing the very fabric of our long enduring traditions. Their bleeding hearts often rally around a single person or group who claim(s) to be offended by a picture, statement or object in our society, even when it is an overwhelmingly accepted and beloved symbol by 99+% of the population. 

The Democrats should realize that these special interest, governmental supported, non-working voters would never vote Republican…the Republicans know how to say no! They (Democrats) should, instead, be afraid of the hard working people who have traditionally supported Democrats that are jumping ship to the Republicans in alarming numbers. Many now regularly vote for the lesser of two evils. Working class people are sick and tired of being ignored, or worse yet, being stripped of rights and benefits earned long ago.

I believe the country will not move forward in a positive direction until there is a legitimate 3rd political party whose members will vote their conscience or use common sense. Or, at the very least, when there are very strict term limits on political office so that re-election ceases to be the most important factor in a politician’s actions.

But, in the meantime, the Democrats are taking a big risk by alienating the working people of this country or state. Look at two of the Democratic candidates for RI governor this season. Taveras and Raimundo have both pretty much gained their political capital by fighting the union workers of the state and city– stripping benefits, especially pension benefits from these workers. Now both of them are running political ads claiming that they are the working man’s champion…..how stupid do they think we are??

My question is, how stupid are they– the Democrats? Even if they win an election or two either out of ignorance of the voters- or because of the “lesser of two evils” factor- they are losing the central base that has kept them strong over the years!

Tom Kenney is a 34 year firefighter on the Providence Fire Department and a 40 year union member. He is author of Working Class Hero: Memoirs of a Providence Fireman and frequent contributor to local media primarily regarding labor issues.

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