WHAT IS A YELLOW DOG DEMOCRAT?

By Kermit C. Moss

I know of no list of requirements on just what a citizen must do or believe in to qualify as a yellow dog Democrat. In fact, I don’t believe that such a list even exists.

Way back there sometime - I don’t know just when - some fellow reportedly pointed to another and said to him: “You’d vote for a yellow dog if he was a Democrat!” Since that time it has become a common thing for a particularly loyal Democrat to be called a yellow dog, especially by Republicans, who often use it scornfully.

So what I offer here is my own personal opinion of some of the things a loyal Democrat ought to believe:

1. In a government of the people, by the people, for the people. ( And there needs to be an emphasis
    here on ALL THE PEOPLE, including the middle class and the poor, but certainly to include the
    rich, or the donor class, not to emphasize or give preference to them.)

2. The concept of one man, one vote.
    (All citizens who are old enough and competent enough to work, ought to be allowed to vote,  
    period.)

3. That preemptive war strikes are not a viable option, and that all wars ought to be debated on and
    declared by congress.

    ( And all of the people should be involved through such things as a military draft, rationing of
    necessary goods and services, and strict control of the military industrial complex.
    Only in this way can we get the full support of the people, so necessary to the successful conduct of
    a war.)

4. In the capitalist economic system, which throughout history has produced more goods and services
    than any other system. (But we need to realize that this system is based on self interest, which
    leaves it wide open to human greed, which will run rampant, as it is doing today, unless it is
    closely regulated. This means, of course, that we need to have strict regulations and that they
    should be strictly enforced. When they are not we get cases like Enron and hedge fund managers
    making $540 million per year, which comes to $240,000 per hour, while the purchasing power of
    the middle class and the poor decreases.)

5. Adequate and affordable health care ought to be provided for all Americans.
    (And the matter of how we do it should not be left to the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
   
    This is a must! How can any citizen “pursue happiness” while fearing bankruptcy brought on by
    illness?)

6. All people who work in government should be honest and competent to do the job that they
    undertake. (This also is a must! Cronyism must somehow be outlawed, if we expect our great
    democracy to survive. We badly need to do whatever it takes in the way of testing and
    interviewing to accomplish this.)

7. The extreme partisanship, so evident in the last few years, must be turned around, so that all of
    those working for government will work for the good of all the people, not just their party, or a
    favored few! (The investor (donor) class is not going to just fade away! We must find a way
    to live with them and convince them that we mean it when we say that “all men are created equal”)

8. Further, the capitalistic economic system, while capable of great things, will not provide for full
    employment! (In the preamble to our constitution we pledge ourselves to “promote the general
    welfare”, so it seems here that promoting full employment ought to be one of the goals of our
    government, even if it means raising taxes to do so. No healthy employable man or woman can be
    happy when he/she tries but cannot find a job to support his/her family.)

Finally, let me say that these random Sunday afternoon thoughts are not yet set in stone!

Kermit C. Moss
PO Box 1136
Monticello, AR 71657

PH 870-367-2486 - office
870-367-7034 - home

November 18th, 2007