End the "Are You A Real Democrat" Purity Test

Some may not agree with me, but there is a PURITY test that is going on within the Democratic Party here in Georgia. Given the rash of party switching democrats in the legislature, now there's this Purity test as I call it to determine whether or not you're DEMOCRAT enough and how much do you love President Obama and the National Democratic Agenda.

Being a Moderate or Conservative Democrat is now is met with suspicion among those who determine who should earn the support of Democratic groups like the House and Senate Caucuses for example.

For some within the party, the though of being in a party with moderates and conservative democrats with different points of views on issues ranging from social to economic is unacceptable or unimaginable.

Why the disdain for another democrat with opposite views from that of a liberal is beyond me. The condescending attitude from some democratic activists, loyalists, insiders toward right-leaning democrats who hail from small towns or who was reared in a small town but moved to a much larger area small town is one reason why it's been difficult for the party to find and recruit strong able-bodied candidates for legislative seats in swing or conservative-leaning districts.

House Minority leader Stacey Abrams or State Senator Vincent Fort can be who they want to be because they represents VERY, VERY BLUE DISTRICTS in Metro Atlanta. On the other hand, the most hope you can hope for from Central and South Georgia is going to be a Quentin Howell-John Tibbetts style democrats, who are conservative leaning democrats whose backgrounds fits the makeup of the areas they tried to represent (Howell, HD 145, Tibbetts, then HD 153). Liberal Democrats may not like that, but the fact of the matter is, Stacey Abrams or Vincent Fort literally CANNOT win in Tifton, Milledgeville or Hazelhurst with the same rhetoric they use to win urban Atlanta voters. That's just a fact!

If you want to change the circumstances in those neck of the woods, then go for it, but I'm here to tell you, it's a complete waste of time. It'll take a lot of time and effort, and a LOT of persuasion of the populance. Not needing and cajoling those who doesn't see things your way! That means talking to people, not talking at them.

But the fact is the purity....well let me put it in another way...the underground purity game that is being used by democrats is a deadly game that will get them no where. All democrats are not party line foot soldiers, some are independent-minded, some are moderate, some are conservative, some are pro-business, pro-gun, pro-life, anti-regulation, tax cutters.

One problem with many of today's Georgia Democratic Liberals is that they don't understand the politics of the "Other" Georgia. Calling Bluedog Democrats Republican-Lite takes a monumental level of ignorance. Today's Democratic Party here in Georgia bear no resemblance of the Democratic Party of, say 2000.

The criticism from liberals towards moderate and conservative democrats that they aren't democrat enough is getting old and fast because they're willing to compromise a bit on issues in order to make progress. Whining and complaining about everything moderate and conservative democrats stand for is not going to help the party in the long run. Bluedog Democrats are not the problem, and getting rid of them only exacerbate the problems the party is facing.

The bottom line is stop with these purity test because a democrat who describes him or herself a moderate or conservative democrat maybe suspect. The problem is the current GOP rigid, anti-working class, anti-rural, anti-middle, low income voter agenda that has done nothing to improve the lives of the Trucker down in Atkinson County, or the Diesel Mechanic over in Terrell County, or the farmer up in Taliaferro County, or the 9th grade teacher up in Polk County.