By Nathaniel Smith, Columnist, The Times
The June 16 editorial “For GOP candidates the question is: To Trump or not to Trump?” http://chescotimes.com/?p=25893/ makes a lot of good points about this year’s enthusiasm gap between the two major parties (see also the recent Pew poll http://www.people- press.org/2018/06/20/voters-more-focused-on-control-of-congress-and-the-president-than-in-past-midterms/) and the untenable position in which Trumpist extremism has put Republican voters.
The one critique I would make is of the assertion that “Democrats have been disorganized and completely unable to come up with a message beyond ‘Trump, bad.’”
Nationally, Dem politics right now does tend to be reactive, because the Trump game is publicity and power at all costs, however outrageous the issue at hand. Trump locks up small children without their parents… Dems and others react… Trump says he’ll lock up small children with their parents… What next?
At the County level, though, Dems have long been very conscious of the question “What do Democrats stand for?” Those who want the answer can find documentation on the Chester County Democratic Committee website http://chescodems.org/what-do-chesco-dems-stand-for/, with references at the national, state, and county levels, including Chesco Young Democrats.
The most comprehensive statement there, “2017 Chesco Dem Values & Issues,” has sections on making democracy represent the people again, health care as a human right, quality education for all, equal rights (including immigrants), economic opportunity, and a quality environment.
Those are issues of great concern here in Chester County. A quick read of any news source shows that the Trump administration and its enablers are steadily working to undermine the human rights and needs that Democrats stand for, which can be summed up under the single concept of Fairness. And Americans above all believe in being fair.
