It has become increasingly clear to me that the Democratic party has been hijacked as time has passed, and people have not been helped but instead enslaved. The sensible Democrats I grew up with were once leaders who used the government to assist people with real needs genuinely. It's difficult to argue with that.
In those days, our discussions mainly revolved around the different approaches to addressing a situation. More often than not, these debates led to the introduction of legislation. During this time, the Democrats consistently won the votes, holding control of Congress from Eisenhower to Gingrich.
Even though the debates could become heated, we were all Americans first; being Democrats and Republicans came second.
But then things began to change. Hatred started to replace legitimate political differences. Attacking a strong opponent personally became the norm. Being an American takes a back seat or even becomes irrelevant. Political consultants were making millions of dollars by promoting this tactic.
In 1996, during my race against Sen. Tom Harkin, most major polls showed me in the lead. At one of my fundraising events, David Yepsen, Political Editor for the Des Moines Register, approached me with a press release from the Harkin Campaign and asked, "Jim, is this true?"