OPINION

The Democratic Party—No More Moderates

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With the rise of Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries, I have caught myself calling other Democratic candidates “moderates” compared to Sanders. The reality is there are no moderates left in the Democratic Party.

The Democratic National Convention published its party platform in 2016, which outlines the party’s position on a wide array of issues.

Multiple times throughout the platform, it is made clear that the murder of a baby should be legal throughout all nine months of pregnancy. The platform is also deceptive by labeling abortion as “safe and legal.” There’s nothing safe about ending the life of a child in the womb.

The 2016 platform claims that those who engage in abnormal sexual behavior such as homosexuality have a “human right” to advance their lifestyle upon other people. Meaning, anyone who disapproves of said behavior is violating their “human rights” and should be rebuked accordingly. We’ve seen this totalitarian mentality on display with various faith-based business owners who have been forced to lend their artistic gifts in favor of this lifestyle or be closed down.

Lastly, the party platform frames health care as a human right. Meaning, the government should take over the national health care system and operate what has historically been part of the private sector. This would take America from having the best quality health care in the developed world to one of the worst in a matter of years.

Overall there is a fundamental flaw in the policies the Democratic Party promotes. It boils down to whether the government is the solution to our problems or whether the free market can provide various solutions to our problems.

To my original point, the Democratic Party platform no longer allows for moderates. The platform is radical and largely hostile to our country’s founding principles of liberty and limited government. The platform, through the aforementioned support for killing babies in the womb, makes it hard for people of faith to even fathom voting for someone with a ‘D’ by their name.

Individual liberty and free-market ideals produce the best results for the most amount of people. History proves it.

America is an exceptional nation, and our free-market ideals have produced the best quality of life in the world for hundreds of millions of people. We need to focus more on lifting people out of poverty and improving the quality of life through free-market means.

As freedom-loving Americans, we must be careful not to downplay the extreme views of virtually all of the Democratic candidates running for the presidential nomination. There are no moderates. Every elected official, at the local, state or federal level, who still wears the hat of the Democratic Party must ask themselves whether or not they share the anti-American policies that are being promoted by the national Democratic Party.

Walker Wildmon is vice president of operations for AFA, a pro-family advocacy organization.