Hamilton: Democrats need liberals, conservatives
By Staff
People's viewpoints have not changed that much, but social conditions have changed. Laws have changed as far as people's rights are concerned. And the voting populous changed since 1955 when black people couldn't vote without getting lynched.
It's the same basic philosophy. It's just that it works within the framework of the social and cultural network of today rather than the social and cultural network of then.
And, of course, the demographics of this county account a lot for the fact that there are a lot of Republicans. We don't have any blue collar workers in this town.
We've got retail people, medical people and (military) base personnel. There is no manufacturing and union strength, and that is usually where your Democratic party is the strongest.
Clark: When a person is elected and doesn't do what the person who elected him or her to do, like address issues that are pertinent to the voter, that causes people to say it's not going to do any good for me to vote.
And voting does count because at the voting booth, your vote counts just as much as anyone else. We want people to know that they are important and this is the time to show it. Go vote.
The Star: What are some of the ways that you would like to motivate younger voters?
Clark: One of the things we are going to do at our next meeting is to appoint committees. We have already begun to ask people what committee they want to serve on.
We're hopefully going to have an active Young Democrats Committee. Needless to say, the young people can have more appeal with people their own age, and through them we hope to reinvigorate their interest and get them out to vote.
We have several youth on our executive committee and we want to use them to bring in other young people.
Hamilton: There is no easy answer to get people out to vote. That's a problem with both parties. Why are they not interested in voting? I don't know.
Young people just don't see the connection between the government and how they live. They feel like it doesn't make any difference, that the wealthy are going to control it, and, unfortunately, they are correct.
The Star: When did problems start with the Democratic party in Lauderdale County?
Hamilton: I think it goes back more than 20 years. What was really happening were cultural and legal changes that made people look at the Democratic party as liberal. And, consequently, to have that label on them was a burden, and it has become more of a burden since then.
But we need both liberals and conservatives. Liberals are progressive and conservatives want to stay the same. Liberals are like the sail on a ship and conservatives are like the anchor.
You need someone to take you forward and you need someone to slow you down or stop you when you need to stop. They should work together.
The Star: How do you overcome that stigma of being liberal since liberal has become such a bad word?
Hamilton: I don't try to overcome it. I don't look at it as a stigma. It's a myth and a myth is the most powerful thing in the world.
