Clark County Today Editor Ken Vance shares his views on the actions and agenda of today’s Democrats

Ken Vance, editor
Clark County Today

My father was not a political person. The household I grew up in wasn’t filled with ideological discussions, advocacy, or attempts to persuade others to feel one particular way about how to view the world over another. It was almost forbidden, or at the very least discouraged, to try to tell someone else how to live their life. My father had his own version of The Golden Rule, “what happens in our neighbor’s yard is none of our business and what happens in ours is none of theirs.’’ As a result of that environment during my youth, I was never told how to think or what to believe and I was never encouraged to try to influence others.

Despite all that, or possibly as a direct result of it all, I seemed to develop stronger opinions about things in the political realm than my father. Or at least I thought I did. But, as a young adult, there were more and more times when my family dipped our toes in more controversial topics than we did in previous years. My father’s comfort level for those discussions was still limited, but nevertheless, we found out more and more about his principles and values over time.

My father always professed to be a Democrat. We never questioned that until one day one of my brothers had the wisdom to ask our father what he thought it meant to be a Democrat. We didn’t use terms like liberal or conservative back then. Just as was the case with his own version of The Golden Rule, my father had a simple, common man’s way to look at life in an uncomplicated way. I don’t remember exactly how my father answered my brother’s question that day, but the values he professed to have that made him a Democrat included faith, individual rights and freedom, and a smaller, less intrusive government. My brother and I were very careful not to embarrass or insult our father. We loved and respected him dearly, but we gently told him that his values were much more in line with Republicans than Democrats. He was surprised by that. The discussion didn’t continue very much further, but I don’t recall him describing himself as a Democrat after that.

I believe my anecdote is a cautionary tale about branding or labeling others as fitting into one class, demographic or another. We shouldn’t paint any group of individuals with one broad stroke of the brush. I also believe that today’s Democratic Party is not our father’s Democratic Party. It’s not even Bill Clinton’s or Barack Obama’s Democratic Party. It’s the party of Joe Biden (or whoever was running our country during the past four years), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gavin Newsom and Rosie O’Donnell. 

Definition of liberalism

Wikipedia defines liberalism this way: 

“Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. Liberals espouse various and often mutually conflicting views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally support private property, market economies, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), liberal democracy, secularism, rule of law, economic and political freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominant ideology of modern history.’’

Does that even resemble today’s Democratic Party? It certainly doesn’t for me.

Here in Washington state, I don’t have to remind you about the tyranny of Jay Inslee’s years as governor. The wounds haven’t had time to heal yet. I’m holding out hope that Bob Ferguson won’t be as bad a governor as Inslee, but only time will tell. State Superintendent Chris Reykdahl would rather Washington public schools lose $137 million in federal funds than protect females from having to compete against biological males in sports, not to mention forcing young females to share locker room or bathroom spaces with the same biological males. Yes, Reykdahl’s Democratic Party is not my father’s Democratic Party.

Reaching into our pockets

I assure you that my father did not equate being a Democrat with taxing citizens the way the state of Washington is taxing its citizens. Just last week (July 1), a bevy of new and increased charges, taxes and fees became a reality in our state as this year’s legislative session included the approval by lawmakers of a tax increase package designed to generate about $9.4 billion in revenue over the next four years.

Lowlights of the tax increase package include:

• The highest level state excise tax rate in the nation. 
• The state’s gas tax increased six cents per gallon. According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Washington last Thursday was just over $4.41. The national average is just over $3.16.
• The cost of hunting and fishing licenses in Washington increased by 38 percent, raising the average cost by about $16.  

I assure you Washington’s current Democratic Party is not my father’s Democratic Party.

The Art of War

I often refer to the famous quote from Sun Tzu in The Art of War, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.’’ These days, Democrats are making more mistakes than I can count in one column. 

I used to lament the fact that Democrats seemed to be better equipped to win elections than Republicans. They seemed to rally around one ideology and one candidate better than Republicans, who have often been divided between moderates and conservatives. I could never understand why a conservative Republican would rather see a Democrat win an election than a moderate Republican but that actually takes place (remember the Jaime Herrera Buetler lesson we learned that has left us with Marie Gluesenkamp Perez). 

Like it or not, President Donald Trump has created greater unity in the Republican Party while the Democrats are acting like they never want to win another election. Supporting riots and violence over the deportation of illegal immigrants, oppressive tax increase and biological males competing in sports with females is not the Democratic Party my father once identified with.

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