Why the democrats are blue : secular liberalism and the decline of the people's party

Why the Democrats are Blue argues that secular, educated elites, using a commission created at the 1968 convention in Chicago and later chaired by Senator George McGovern, took the Democratic Party away from working class and religious Democrats. This quiet revolution helps explain why six of the last nine Democratic presidential candidates have lost. Has the 2006 election ushered in a new era of Democratic dominance? According to Mark Stricherz, the party's own history should give us pause. The Democratic Party has lost seven of the last ten presidential elections. In the last thirty years, no Democratic presidential nominee has received even half of the popular vote. And the party's base of support is limited to the "blue states" on the coasts and in the Great Lakes region. In this exceptional book, Stricherz shows whyeven todaythe Democrats are blue. He reveals how a group of secular professionals seized control of the Democratic Party "How did the party of the people lose the allegiance of the working-class and Catholic voters it once championed? Stricherz tells the stories of the postwar Catholic leaders who helped the party win presidential elections regularly and delivered for their cross-racial, blue-collar constituencies. He then details how New Politics activists hijacked the McGovern Commission, changed the party platform to reflect their secular and elite values, and systematically excluded socially conservative Democratic leaders."--Jacket "In this book, Stricherz shows why - even today - the Democrats are blue. He reveals how a group of secular professionals seized control of the Democratic Party, driving away Catholics and blue-collar workers. He exposes the tactics these elites used as they hijacked a commission formed at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, toppled the party bosses, created a nomination system geared toward activists, and built an affluent, secular base of support." A study of the Democratic Party explains how a group of secular, educated elites, drawing on a commission created at the 1968 Chicago convention and later chaired by Senator George McGovern has moved the party away from its working class and religious roots.