“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party; my party left me.” - Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was ahead of the curve when he left the Democratic Party in the early 1960s.  He saw the destructive direction that the party was headed in back then, even though John F. Kennedy was president.  By today’s standards, JFK would be viewed as an alt-right wingnut by his own party based on his policy positions.

After Jack Kennedy’s assassination, the country swung toward the radical left at an alarming rate.  The watershed year of 1964 saw an uptick in student radicalism on college campuses. Lyndon Johnson’s administration mainstreamed racial and gender preferences in college admissions and employment.  The far left applauded these moves, yet LBJ’s downfall came through his escalation of the Vietnam War.

As rioting raged in the streets of our major cities and campuses erupted in violent student protests, the middle and working-class JFK/FDR coalition began to leave the Democratic Party in disgust.  It was around this time that Reagan ran for governor of California on a platform of restoring law and order by not appeasing the leftist bullies and thugs.

In 1972, the Democratic Party fully took the plunge into radical leftism by nominating George McGovern, who looks like Bernie Sanders-lite by today’s standards.  The exodus of the JFK base accelerated as McGovern was trounced by Richard Nixon in the general election. The Watergate Scandal briefly slowed middle-class flight from the Dems’ ranks:

Watergate ushered in Jimmy Carter as a reaction to the scandal.  One could argue that Carter would never have been elected but for Watergate.  Carter seemed like a decent man, but he was clearly in over his head. America’s humiliation in the Iranian Hostage Crisis sealed his fate as Middle America had had enough of foreign governments trashing the U.S. on the world stage with little or no pushback from our commander-in-chief.  Reagan promised to restore America to greatness (sound familiar?).

After Reagan’s administration, the GOP lost sight of the policies that made his tenure as effective as it was.  President George H.W. Bush extended an olive branch to the Democrats, and they promptly whacked him over the head with it.

Bill Clinton won office by masquerading as a moderate Republican, backing tax cuts, welfare reform, and getting tough on crime. 

Compare that to today’s Democrats and he’d be likened to Barry Goldwater, with disdain. It is truly amazing to see how radical the national Democratic Party has become in just over 25 years.

Now compare Clinton’s policies to those of today’s Democratic presidential candidates.  The FDR/JFK faction of the party has either died off or been purged. Impeachment shenanigans have replaced legislation that will actually help ordinary Americans.  JFK, Harry Truman, and FDR are spinning in their graves.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab