For decades, I’ve been saying that Democrats are the party of freedom. Look at their past policies and you can clearly see that Democrats are for personal freedom and corporate accountability, while Republicans are interested in limiting personal freedoms and letting corporations run rampant.
I was reminded of this recently when a post popped up in my Facebook feed from a page I don’t follow. It was a video clip from the movie “Demolition Man,” starring Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock. In the clip, Edgar Friendly, played by Dennis Leary is explaining to Stallone’s character why he lives underground, away from society. In the scene, he says he is the enemy because he likes to think, he likes to read, he’s into freedom of speech, and then begins a typical 1990’s era Dennis Leary screed about how he wants to be free to smoke and eat red meat, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. If you’re not familiar with it, check it out:
And then, all these weird-ass right-wing MAGA freaks jumped in the comments talking about how they finally understand what he was talking about, and “That’s what the Democrat party is doing to us!”
I bit back the desire to comment. I wanted to ask them which Democratic policies are taking rights away from people. I wanted to engage in an honest conversation about which party is trying to strip the rights away from the electorate. But I know better.
I wanted to engage them in a conversation about evidence-based facts that exist in reality. Experience has taught me to stop trying. I used to try to engage with people online, naively believing that people can have rational political discussions in an online environment, but it’s rarely possible, in my experience. So, I don’t even try anymore.
In the past, when I’ve tried to engage in healthy debate online, the sourced, fact-based items I would provide as evidence were countered with unsourced opinion pieces riddled with blatant lies. When I would call into question the source and quality of their evidence, they would claim that my sources were the flawed ones, because they came from the “liberal media.” Never mind that they were fully sourced back to the original evidence.
So, it’s unfortunate that I can’t have an honest conversation with these people because I really want to know which Democratic policies are infringing on my rights as a private citizen. I don’t see any Democratic policy trying to take my rights away, but if you can think of some, please let me know in the comments. Any examples I’ve been given in the past crumble under the slightest scrutiny. They can largely be reduced to, “They’re trying to take away my right to take people’s rights away!” I only see Democrats trying to protect our rights, restore the rights that have been stripped away, and fight for freedom and equality.
I see Republican talking heads resorting to making things up from whole cloth. I heard one on CNN say with a straight face that Kamala Harris wants to ban red meat, and then he confidently claimed that she campaigned on the issue. This is not true.
FACT CHECK: Does Kamala Harris Want To ‘Eliminate’ Beef? | Check Your Fact
Meanwhile, I see Republicans trampling our rights every chance they get. I have examples:
They are against women’s rights. They have removed a woman’s right to choose. They have come between women and their doctors, interfering with a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.
They are against gay rights. They fought against marriage equality. And now they want to reverse it.
They are against trans rights. They don’t want trans people to have the right to be their authentic selves in public.
They are against environmental regulations. They want to repeal safety regulations imposed on corporations, which infringes on our individual rights to a safe, clean environment.
They are against the right to affordable health care. Right now, in our country, getting good, quality health care is considered a privilege. Democrats want to make it a right.
They are against employee collective bargaining rights.
These are just a few of the many examples available. Their policy proposals are all about control and forcing the general public into a Judeo-Christian mold. I would seek out individual examples for all of these things, but I don’t have to. There’s a 900-page document called Project 2025. Go read it. It’s all there. If you don’t have time to read a 900-page manual on how to create a dystopian nightmare, check out this white paper from David Pakman.
For as long as I can remember, Democrats have been strong on policy, but complete shit on messaging. I have become so excited in this election season. Kamala walking out on stage to Beyoncé’s Freedom sent chills down my spine. Democrats have always been the party of freedom, and it’s about time they talk about it. Walz telling people to “mind your own damned business” did it again. Chills.
I was shocked, amazed, and ecstatic that the Democrats finally seem to be learning how to message. We want to be free. We don’t want people telling us what to do. We want to be free to worship as we choose and free to not worship at all. We want to be free to do what we want with our bodies. We want to be free to love who we want.
Democrats are the party of personal freedom and corporate regulation. Ideally. I’m not naïve. There is plenty of corporate control of the Democratic party. They have way too much financial incentive to favor corporations, and there are plenty of corrupt Democrats. But they are leaps and bounds ahead of the Republican party, which is openly for corporate freedom, corporate deregulation, which by its very nature leads to individual servitude.
So, if you like freedom, vote Democratic. Vote Harris/Walz. Then we can continue the fight to get corporate influence and corporate money out of politics. If you vote the other way, individual voters will no longer have any say at all in what goes on in government. A lot of people probably think I’m being alarmist, or hyperbolic. But I’m not. Their plan is public, and it describes a dystopian future that I want no part of. The only people who will be happy under that plan are people who long to be controlled by an evil tyrant. And, strangely, those people do actually exist.