...I don't want to know you, and I certainly won't welcome you into the party. That includes you, Elizabeth Warren, and, oh yeah, you too, Markos. Were your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents Dems, like mine were? Have you only voted D your entire life, as I have since 1972? Is your spouse a Democrat? My husband grew up in Bridgeport, Mayor Daley's enclave in Chicago, so his D bona fides are solid. Are you raising Democratic children? You'd better be. I've got one so far, he voted Dem in 2012; the other one is only 15, but I can't see her going Republican. So I am as good a Democrat as there is, probably better than you.
Enough snark. I was pleased this morning when I read about the Mississippi college GOP chairman who fled the party and became a Democrat. I wasn't pleased to read a few of the comments that expressed dismay that this one lonely person was "pushing the party" demographics to the right. That the Democratic Party has gone so far to the right that of course it would appeal to a former Republican. That this wasn't a good thing at all.
I've noticed something about converts to a cause, a religion, a political party: Sometimes--not all the time, but often---they become the most fervent new members of whatever it is they have converted to. The self-realization that pushed them to the other side often means that they are thinking people who embrace change and are eager for others to do the same. They become advocates like Warren, Markos. Even someone like Arianna Huffington, or Hillary Clinton.
Because I have been a Democrat my entire life, surrounded by like-minded parents, siblings, spouse, I might be a bit more complacent than a newly hatched Dem. I wonder if it's because I grew up, entrenched, not having to coax someone over to the other side, not having to exert myself to associate with Democrats because I was surrounded by them. I liken it to my husband's situation--he lost both parents when he was very young and grew up in an orphanage. So by necessity he has always had to go, do, be and make his own way in the world, to his credit. There was no one paving the way for him.
I submit that any new recruit is good news. That their vote counts as much as mine, even if their politics don't line up 100 per cent with mine, or yours; they might in the future. They don't dilute the demographics of the party.
And, who knows? A new Democrat might have a fresh energy that could make a difference at a local level--volunteering, running for office, enlisting others. A very good friend of mine, Brazilian by birth, became a citizen less than 5 years ago. She is an active Democrat in a red district near Peoria, IL--far more active in party politics than I am. She's sought it out herself and she takes nothing for granted.
We should be open-minded and welcoming, don't you think?