Reply #24: Certain differences cannot just be set aside... [View All]

For example, after the 2000 election I decided I would never again support any Presidential candidate who failed to present a plan to reduce the deficit, to provide universal healthcare, and to embrace a plank in the Democratic Party platform supporting the abolishment of the electoral college.

Other differences to me..such as where someone stands specifically on the situation in Iraq, how they plan to deliver universal healthcare, or how much of the taxcuts they will repeal are secondary issues. The first thing that matters is where does our party stand on basic democratic principles such as..preventing Democratic votes for President from being excluded in states like Kansas and Alabama, and who supports insuring that every working person can move from job to job with the comfort that they will always have health insurance?

Any compromise on such defining issues is a compromise on the very morals which make Democrats...democrats. People will either stop voting or will find other means to be politically active, if our party betrays the most attractive elements that Democrats have to offer.