Au Revoir Democratic Party

Au Revoir Democratic Party
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It's failure to change will haunt them.

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Bryce's Law says, "You cannot treat a patient if he doesn’t know he is sick." This aptly describes the state of the Democratic Party as they re-elected Nancy Pelosi to House Minority Leader on Wednesday. Challenging her for the position was Tim Ryan of Ohio, who recognizes there are problems with the party and a change of direction is needed.

The Democratic Party was bloodied by the 2016 general election. In addition to losing the White House and both chambers of Congress, the Democrats lost ground in gubernatorial and state house races. So much so, most of the states are now run by Republicans. This is not surprising as they have found Republicans to be better at administering state governments than their Democratic counterparts (see ARTICLE).

During the 2016 political campaign I personally met many Democrats who switched over to the GOP as they contended the Democratic Party had deserted them and became much too liberal. In their eyes, it was no longer the "party of the people," which explains why the Midwest coal workers and assembly line workers abandoned them and voted for Mr. Trump instead.

The problem was compounded by charges of corruption in the party, and a devastating defeat of Mrs. Clinton. In the Senate, Harry Reid finally retired and was replaced by Chuck Schumer of New York as Minority leader. Like Reid, Schumer is a confirmed liberal, but his style of management will hopefully be more positive than his predecessor.

In the House, Tim Ryan is the only Democrat who recognized the emperor has no clothes. Nancy Pelosi may be a political fund raising dynamo, but her politics are that of the losing party. In contrast, Mr. Ryan correctly observed the Democrats are no longer a national party, but cater to the whims of liberals on both the east and west coasts. On NBC's "Meet the Press" (11/27/2016), he said:

"And I think the level of frustration in our caucus is as great as I've ever seen it. And it's time to do something about it, not just talk about it. Because now we're not even the national party. We're a coastal party. And we've got to move forward. If we're not going to get voters in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, go back down south. When I first got in Congress, we had members from Tennessee. We've got to go back there and campaign and get those folks back in the fold."

On Wednesday, the House Democratic Caucus voted by secret ballot to retain Mrs. Pelosi as Minority leader. To people like Mr. Ryan and like minded congressional Democrats, this was a devastating blow and a clear indication the party has no intention of changing any time soon.

By re-electing Mrs. Pelosi, the woman who made the notorious claim regarding Obamacare, "We have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it," the Democrats are saying they do not intend to deviate from their current political agenda. By failing to change, they will likely stay on course to self destruction in the 2018 mid-term and 2020 presidential elections.

Again, "You cannot treat a patient if he doesn’t know he is sick." Aside from younger Democrats like Tim Ryan who are desperately looking for new leadership, the Democrats appear to be clueless that a problem exists.

Keep the Faith!

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Copyright © 2016 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved.

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