The Left has abandoned value-based Democrats

I suspect we're all guilty of clinging to things long past their expiration date.

A shirt in the closet that no longer fits and is woefully out of style.

Well worn shoes that may well conjure past memories but should have been relegated to the trash heap long ago.

There's a comparison in the political world as well.

Many local and lifelong Democrats are clinging to a political party that no longer mirrors their values, principles or ideology.

For many value-based Democrats, their party has simply abandoned them.

Yet their silence is deafening.

I would argue that many Southeast Missouri Democrats hold nothing in common with the protesters who seek recognition through violence.

I would also argue that many Southeast Missouri Democrats are embarrassed by the circus that has become their once-proud party.

In my 50 years of voting, I have cast more ballots for Democrats than Republicans.

The reason is simple. On the county level, I had no choice.

Election Day was in August not November.

But county political affiliation should not be confused with national elections.

Those who stand strongly behind their party on the local level betray their values when they transfer that loyalty to a national party that is clearly unhinged.

Can local Democrats honestly say they support the policies of the progressive leftist movement?

Believe me, I get it.

President Trump is often a narcissistic clown prone to hyperbole and crass comments.

But ignore that style and focus on the substance of his policies.

Those policies have brought us a strong economy and a reduction in regulations that has unleashed our economic engine. His America first approach is long overdue and he's putting an end to a judiciary bloated with activists liberal judges.

Compare that to the hogwash spouted by the Democrats -- government takeover of health care, an open borders policy that is a doomsday prophecy and an expansion of entitlements at a cost beyond the imagination.

Party loyalty is admirable but blind loyalty is just that -- blind.

Michael Jensen is the publisher of the Standard Democrat in Sikeston, Missouri.