It was the late great New York Gov. Al Smith who stated that “I don’t belong to any organized political party I am a Democrat.”
As each week goes by his statement proves correct as his party bumbles toward a big election challenge in November. But it is time to set aside the Democrats usual doom and gloom and look at the facts.
This promises to be a very big year for the Democrats for many reasons not connected to them.
First, a massive number of women will go to the polls to rebuff the Republican Party’s indifference to their needs.
As of this point in time, the Democrats have nominated dozens and dozens of talented women candidates for various local and federal offices.
Many of them are war veterans, schoolteachers, successful business leaders and a host of other talented people.
The nomination of a Supreme Court candidate that is likely to vote to give the states the absolute power to ban abortions was just another wakeup call to women in swing states around the country.
The Me Too movement has ignited a spark among women of all political thinking who are tired of being bullied and harassed on the job.
The cases of Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby haven’t stirred Republicans into action but have woken up a lot of educated independent suburban housewives.
Any politician who ignores Latino voters in marginal districts does so at their peril.
As of 2016, there were 27.3 million Latino voters. That number will probably increase by another four million this year.
The number of Latinos who are turning 18 this year is 803,000 and increases by 66,000 each month.
Hillary Clinton won 66 percent of the Latino vote in 2016 compared to 28 percent for Donald Trump.
You can bet after the Trump-Sessions immigration debacle in the South that Latinos will be anxious to repudiate the Republican Party. And don’t forget to factor in the 400,000 Puerto Ricans who have resettled in the states since the big hurricane last year.
Republicans around the country have not paid any attention to the Parkland shooting survivors but they will be traveling around the country urging unregistered people to vote. These are not just a bunch of schoolchildren. They have been thrust into a human inferno and have every intention of taking on the gun lobby.
Some may say that they are just a small bunch of protesters, but elections are won by the sum total of all activists around the country.
And let us not forget about the Democrats greatest gift, Donald Trump.
Each day, like the gift that keeps on giving, he hands Democrats another issue to rally their voters.
It’s hard to recite all of his mistakes because there are so many. His latest retreat from defending America in front of a world audience will give his supporters another reason to stay home in November.
There is nothing more depressing for a Trump voter than seeing a president who attacks his intelligence agencies on foreign soil in the presence of a dictator.
Watching Mr. Trump insult our European allies and interfere in local politics has to make his own backers cringe and encourage independent voters to go to the polls to repudiate his disgraceful conduct.
It is hard to ignore the fact that at this moment in time Democrats around the country are divided into numerous factions.
But in my lifetime, there has never been an election year when Democrats were not squabbling over something.
But even with a fractured party, the Democrats are in a better position to win big compared to a Republican Party that is hiding in a corner afraid to insult their President who is dragging them down each day.
So to our Democratic readers, who live each day with the fear of another day of a Trump White House, fear not.
The tea leaves favor big changes in November. And to the Republicans, politics is cyclical and 2018 is not your year.
