Jump to content
Objectivism Online Forum

Bourbon Democrats

Rate this topic


John McVey

Recommended Posts

This is interesting. Wikipedia featured an article on Grover Cleveland on its front page as article of the day, and it included reference to "Bourbon Democrats." They actually looked not too bad, especially compared to modern Democrats, but given that it is wikipedia and this is politics, take it with a large grain of salt.

Bourbon Democrat was a term used in the United States from 1876 to 1904 to refer to a conservative or classical liberal member of the Democratic Party,

...

Bourbon Democrats represented business interests, supported banking and railroad goals (but opposed subsidizing banks, railroads or other enterprises - or protecting them from competition), promoted laissez-faire capitalism (which included opposition to the protectionism Republicans then advocated), opposed imperialism and U.S. overseas expansion, fought for the gold standard, and opposed bimetallism. They strongly supported reform movements such as Civil Service Reform and opposed corruption of city bosses, leading the fight against the Tweed Ring.

They were not perfect - eg it was Cleveland who signed the ICC into existence - but they appear to be a damn sight better than either Party or faction therein today. One wonders if perhaps the faction should be revived within the Democrat Party and be a force against lunatics?

JJM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It might be a good combination in some districts. Certain socially liberal views would go a long way towards attracting voters on the left and center, and good economic and fiscally conservative policies would work for quite a few people in the center and possibly on the (moderate) right. Given that independents are about 40% of the vote nowadays, you'd only need a few people from the other parties to vote for you in order to get elected.

And I think it helps that a lot of your views are reality-based. You can also be consistent and I think that would also appeal to many people.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've always been fond of the Bourbons, and would've gladly considered myself among them had I of been alive then. It's a shame their ideology has rescinded into such a minority in this current political climate.

As for Cleveland, the man was much better than 50% of the politicians back then and a HELL of allot better than 99% of the politicians today.

Edited by Miles White
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Grover Cleveland was a total badass. And the Bourbons were pretty cool, except Wilson. Hes a douche.

Wilson sounds *nothing* like these Bourbons (so the "douche" label, though not literally true, is apt)--and in fact he was one of the later strain of Progressives that infected both parties.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...