Whatever Happened to the “Blue Dog” Democrats?

First, let's define what a “Blue Dog” Democrat is (or was). A “Blue Dog” Democrat is a member of Congress who is moderate or more conservative in their voting record and political philosophy than the other, more liberal, Democrats in the House and Senate. There was a time when both Democrats and Republicans would bury their political differences over a beer after working hours - but no more. Those were the days and the “heyday” of the group of Democrats called the “Blue Dogs”.

Yes, they even voted for legislation that Republicans brought up for a vote, and vice-versa as Republicans voted for Democrat bills. Those days are gone. There was a time when politicians could agree to disagree in a friendly manner, and it seemed to work quite well until the election of 2000, and it has evolved and deteriorated to the unworkable situation we have today in both houses of Congress. Verbal venom, where one side blasts the other side for seemingly no other reason that the other person or party is in the opposition. No matter if the topic at hand is good for our country, since the other party is in favor of it, makes it a non-support item on the agenda. With each passing election cycle, from 2000 on, the Democrats have veered to the far-left of mainstream thought and the “Blue Dog” Democrats have become fewer and fewer, whereas today there aren’t any left to speak of. This lunge to the far-left has put the Democrats at a real disadvantage among the more moderate voting public. Yes, the Republicans have members who can be considered members of the far-right, but they do not dominate the party as a whole, President Trump does. Just recently, with the rise of socialist Bernie Sanders and his Marxist/Socialist agenda and its appeal to millennials, the moderate Democrats in the Democrat Party have become almost non-existent. In fact, in the primary election that was just held in Brooklyn, an avowed socialist won the primary over a 20 year Democrat incumbent congressman. She was and is an advocate and vocal supporter of the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat Party (even though Bernie is an Independent who caucus' with the Democrats). Many pundits feel that this huge tilt to the left is a “death wish” for the Democrat Party because, as much as socialist oriented candidates play up the “freebies” and entitlements from the government coffers agenda, the majority of voters do not accept that agenda in sufficient numbers, as of now. That's why Donald Trump was elected and not Hillary Clinton.

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The Democrat “establishment” is worried that the “Blue Wave”, that was predicted for the mid-term elections in November, is being nullified by many of their candidates leaning toward the socialist agenda. Most of the American people are not that enthused (except for the millennials) in substituting socialism for capitalism as of now. That would be an anchor around the necks of Democrats running for office this November. The Democrats point out that the Republicans have a schism in their party also, and they say that balances off the schism in their party. The ace in the hole for the Republicans is that they have a populist president in President Trump who, even though the media is 90% against him and the Democrats 100%, has a strong voting base among both Republicans and Independents, and some Reagan Democrats, to offset any major defections. I predict that the leftward lurch of the Democrat Party will result in a big victory for the Republicans in November, as people do not want to become another Cuba or Venezuela. So, may the “Blue Dog” Democrats R.I.P., and hope that a big election set back in November will turn the party around and become a more moderate political party that will attempt to bring them back into power. It might just be wishful thinking on their part, not reality.