Some Observations on Being a Democrat -- Part I

Yesterday I made some comments on a post entitled "Being a Democrat" on the blog Blog for Democracy. This morning I got an email suggesting that I should post my comments on this blog. I made 3 comments, and will do 3 edited posts, the first being:

To those who might consider one's views about various issues as being litmus tests to being a good Democrat:

I am pro-choice, not because I am a Democrat, but because I think it should be a woman's choice, and definitely not mine unless it happened to be my wife or daughter.

But what if someone has religious convictions and moral beliefs that are different from mine; do we not have room in the party for such person?

Former President Bill Clinton recently cautioned after the midterm elections: "The people didn't give Democrats a mandate. They gave us a chance."

Let's not blow the chance the voters have given us. To the extent we have to suck it up a little, let's do it. Ours is -- or historically has been -- the big tent party.