You've made the right decision. The future of this party is very bright. Chafe's dad, Senator John Chafe, was the classic New England Republican. However, that's now a dead breed. Governor Chafe had become an Independent and has now concluded that his priorities are more in line with the Democratic party.
Chafee’s positions on multiple issues are far more in sync with today’s Democratic Party, which was the primary motivator of his decision, according to his spokesman, Christian Vareika.
Chafee’s positions on multiple issues are far more in sync with today’s Democratic Party, which was the primary motivator of his decision, according to his spokesman, Christian Vareika.
“This was not a rash decision,” Vareika told me this afternoon. “The governor reached this conclusion after assessing his own principles and priorities and values, and deciding they blend very well with the national Democratic Party.”
Chafee’s priorities, Vareika continued, “are the same ones the Democratic Party puts a real focus on today: affordable public education, investing in infrastructure, equal rights, marriage equality.”
There are some political benefits for Chafe to be sure: he's been flagging in recent polls and it certainly improves the field by becoming a Democrat for his re-election campaign next year-he'll be able to avoid Democratic competition provided he's not primaried.
Still his positions clearly are more in sync with the Dems and has strongly supported the President in both 2008 and 2012. Obama welcomed him warmly into the party.
“I’m delighted to hear that Governor Chafee is joining the Democratic Party,” Obama said in a statement distributed by the Democratic National Committee. “For nearly 30 years, Linc Chafee has served his beloved Rhode Island as an independent thinker and leader who’s unafraid to reach across party lines to get things done. I enjoyed working with Linc when he was a Republican in the United States Senate, and I look forward to continuing that collaboration on the issues that matter not just to the Democratic Party, but to every American.”
In joining the Dems the Governor is joining a great party with a great tradition and history as the President said. It seems clear that it's also the party of the future as the GOP is only getting more dysfunctional by the day.
I have admitted being an unapologetic partisan on a number of occasions. I like to quote Thaddeus Stevens who said: Principles indeed! Betray your principles and stand by your party! This is because the Democrats have the right policies over the long term.
I have recently had the pleasure to become acquainted with Eric Zuesse, a very interesting guy. He's what's called an "investigative historian" and he very generously recently emailed me a manucsript he's wrting about microeconomics and the need to reform this discipline root and branch. This work is not in its final form yet so I won't link to it. However I can link to another paper he finished on the creation of the libertarian movement. There's always the debate between ideas and naked interests regarding an intellectual movement. This paper of his makes a strong case for the naked interest theory for libertarianism.
UPDATE: He has requested I not link to this piece yet for copyright issues. I respect that. Apologies.
In getting to know more about him, it turns out that he's very prolific and has written a number of very thought provoking and fascinating books. I have just purchased one of them on Kindle called Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010.
He goes through the rather amazing numbers. The Dems have been the better bet for a long time. You can look at the market, or you can look at GDP, employment, or inflation, the Dems are the right bet. Chafe now joins this venerable tradition while the party is clearly poised to realize much greatness in teh future, with a better life for most Americans. Mr. Zuesse is a very prolific writer. He has some very interesting work on the Iraq war and even on the founding of Christianity. That work is entitled Christ's Ventriloquists: The Event That Created Christianity.
Here is a link to a list of books he has on Amazon.
He also has a book on why the Holocaust happened-ambitious project but a must read! Here is also some work he's done on Huffington Post.
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