Here’s a Viewpoint article by Mary Hatch that appeared in the June 22, 2022, issue of the Mecklenburg Sun titled “Line in the sand“.
In 1836, when the situation at the Alamo looked hopeless, Colonel William Travis took his sword and drew a line in the sand. He said, “Who will be the first to stay and fight with me?” Every man stepped over the line to fight, but one. My brilliant Republican brother said to me two years ago during the election, “Mary, I can’t relate to Democrats.” I asked him why. He said, “They don’t know how to fight hard for what they believe in like the Republicans and they don’t brag about what they do.”
Two years later those words played like a broken record as I am seeing Trump signs and I realize — he is right. We Democrats have a lot to brag about and don’t. So, I decided to start listing what we have done and still do.
We are the party of FDR, who initiated Social Security (set up to help widows) and unemployment insurance in 1935; the Child Labor Act in 1938. We fought for Medicare starting with Truman in 1949, then John F. Kennedy, and finally passed in 1965 with Lyndon Johnson. The Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010 by President Obama so all Americans could afford medical care. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, initiated by JFK, was concluded by President Lyndon Johnson and passed on a bipartisan vote. It prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, color, or national origin in public places, schools, and employment. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, after 10 years of dedication, set up Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2011 to protect Americans from unlawful bank practices after the crash to stop foreclosure on their homes, especially during loan modifications. Over 49 million homes benefited from CFPB and were saved just during 2011 to 2016 and millions since. The agency also protects Americans from unfair collection practices: collection agencies and attorneys. I was a recipient twice of CFPB saving my home from unfair practices. Side note: Trump wanted to destroy CFPB and put in charge, Kathy Kraninger who was actually protecting the banks. She resigned when Biden took over.
The DACA and Dream Act was originated by President Obama and finalized upon bi-partisan efforts (Dick Durbin, D and Orin Hatch, R). The act has helped over 700,000 recipients who came to this country as children and have lived in this country for an average of 22 years. There are approximately 200,000 essential worker including 30,000 health care workers like doctors and nurses who are helping with the pandemic.
The Democrats have always placed judges in the Department of Justice and Supreme Court who have defended our civil liberties, our Bill of Rights, and the Constitution; unlike Trump who fired some of the best judges who protected our liberties.
In 2004, Karl Rove, the evil genius who orchestrated the win for George W. Bush, labeled the Democratic Party as the party of no moral values and the Republican Party as the moral majority. In the Bible, there are over 1,000 verses that pertain to caring for the needy, the poor, the vulnerable, the widow, the orphan, the sojourner, and the immigrate, and the keepers of justice at the gate. When I look at the list of decades of achievements of the Democratic Party, I am convinced we are most certainly the moral majority. Karl Rove just got it wrong. He needed to read his Bible if he had one.
My brother was right, we need to brag and fight harder. It’s time to draw the line in the sand and fight for what we have always believed in and shout about it and get our heads out of the sand if we want to win in 2024 because we have always fought for the middle class unlike the GOP and Trump who constantly strive to cut Social Security, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act which millions of middle class and poor use, they promote privatized prisons which are slave labor and a revolving door of abuse and now want to put women in prison in some states for life and fines of $50,000 to $100,000. They are not the moral majority. We are and always have been.