Nice to know that not every Democrat in Massachusetts is nuts. This is in the WSJ and there is a link to his Washington Post column.
The chair of the local Democratic party committee called him a "Nazi Cooperator."
“I’m done with Democratic purity tests.”
This column recently noted the efforts of Rep. Seth Moulton (D., Mass.) to challenge his party’s progressive orthodoxy by daring to express a belief shared by a large majority of Americans. While some of the party’s leftists seem unwilling to forgive him, he reports an encouraging response to his plain speaking. Now he has an op-ed in the Washington Post with the refreshingly defiant headline, “I’m done with Democratic purity tests.”
Rep. Moulton writes in the Post:
Two days after Donald Trump’s victory, I gave an example of how Democrats spend too much time trying not to offend anyone, even on issues where most Americans feel the same way. Speaking as a dad, I said I didn’t like the idea of my two girls one day competing against biological boys on a playing field. My main point, though, is what I said next: “As a Democrat, I’m supposed to be afraid to say that.”
The blowback, which was swift, included the chair of a local Democratic committee calling me a Nazi “cooperator” and about 200 people gathering in front of my office to protest a sentence. My unimpeachable record of standing up for the civil rights of all Americans, including the trans community, was irrelevant.
What has amazed me, though, is what’s happening behind the scenes. Countless Democrats have reached out, from across the party — to thank me. I’ve heard it again and again, from union leaders to colleagues in the House and Senate; from top people from the Obama, Biden and Harris teams to local Democrats stopping me on the street; from fellow dads to many in the LGBTQ+ community: “Thank you for saying that!”
As a commentary on how powerful the cancel culture has been lately within the Democratic Party, Rep. Moulton notes that he has been receiving kind words even from people who disagree with him on the underlying policy. He writes:
The question of whether to have reasonable restrictions on transgender women’s participation in women’s sports wasn’t their point — though most agree — just as it wasn’t mine. They were simply glad that a fellow Democrat would violate the moratorium on speaking our minds. Voters want elected officials to give voice to their concerns, not tell them what they should think.
A political party in a free society that enforces a “moratorium on speaking our minds” is not exactly aiming to construct a big tent and is not likely to craft creative solutions to society’s challenges. Labelling colleagues who disagree with you as Nazi collaborators is also generally unsound.
Sadly there are still those in Mr. Moulton’s party who would like to make the Democratic tent as small as possible, just large enough to hold society’s most unreasonable wokesters. The unforgiving left in Massachusetts may soon be trying to punish Mr. Moulton with a primary challenge for his U.S. House seat. Kelly Garrity reported for Politico this week:
BOSTON — Rep. Seth Moulton drew swift condemnation from local Democratic leaders and LGBTQ+ advocates for comments he made about transgender youth in sports in the wake of Democrats’ defeats earlier this month.
But will the discontent translate to real competition next cycle? It’s early, but some potential challengers are already beginning to stir.
Stir as they may, kudos to Rep. Moulton for trying to restrain his party from waging one of its most misguided culture wars—and for his willingness to speak freely.
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