In a recent visit with my father, we came to a disagreement. I complained about Democrats, and he shot back an icy response, and said "I'm a Democrat." And indeed he is, a lifelong Democrat who grew up in the blue-collar, working class state of Michigan. His response effectively ended that thread of conversation, as I certainly was brought up to respect one's elders, and seeing that my comments upset him, I pursued the matter no further.

We do not see each other often, as we currently live on opposite ends of the country, and politics is not something that was ever discussed at length at the kitchen table. So, my knowledge of his political views was quite incomplete. In subsequent conversations, some involving politics, some not, I noticed that while he is a Democrat, he is also quite conservative. On issue after issue, he has made comments that might make you think he was a conservative Republican, except when he pauses to call Dick Cheney a crook. This aside, his views seem to me to be of a Democrat of the past, not the present. His political party has changed around him, yet he continues to vote for Democrats.

I have another relative with a similar outlook. She lives in Iowa and is a grandmother, but not necessarily my grandmother. She fits the mold of the "Roosevelt Democrat," and literally is one, as she grew up in the Depression era, and undoubtedly cast her first vote in a national election for F.D.R. himself. Today she is still a Democrat, although her views are similar to my fathers; conservative, anti-socialist, and anti-welfare.

The Democratic Party has undoubtedly changed around these individuals. Although they still claim to be Democrats, they may not be seeing that today's Democratic party is not the one they grew up with. Starting in the 1970s, with the candidacy of George McGovern, the party has swung further left, and no longer represents the same ideals they believe they are voting for. With the most recent elections, where the Democratic Party has taken control of Congress, the leftward course has reached its pinnacle. The Democratic Party is no longer the party of middle America, although many Roosevelt Democrats continue to support it.

It is these types of Democratic voters that have helped sweep the Democrats into power, but the party itself does not acknowledge this. I do not believe for a moment that my father or the grandmother in Iowa support the ideals of Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, John Kerry, or any of the current crop of extreme left Democrats. It is my hope that these Roosevelt Democrats will finally see the current state of the Democratic Party and realize that it no longer represents them. It happened to me, as I was also a life-long Democrat and extreme leftist who woke up and realized that socialism, anti-miiltary bias, and religious intolerance were not what I believed in. At the time, I, like many leftists, were convinced that my idealistic view had to be right, but when pressed to explain my views, I realized that I could not justify them beyond idealistic generalities. I finally had to abandon the Democratic Party and my leftist views because I could not defend them. I then realized that I, like my father, was quite conservative, and the Democratic Party was not.

There was a time when both Republicans and Democrats were conservative, and extreme left views were on the outside. This is the time my father grew up in, and the time the Iowa grandmother grew up in as well. Of course, the Democratic Party was less conservative and more socialistic during this time, but when viewed against the Democratic Party of today, it certainly was conservative. That is no longer the case. The leftists who were once outsiders are now insiders, and they are inside the Democratic Party. Like the terrorists who have hijacked the Muslim religion, these leftists now believe they have a mandate in Congress to change the direction of the country to the left.

This may be, and hopefully will be, a wake-up call for the moderate Democrats. The extreme leftist ideology of today's current Democratic leaders is now in the spotlight, and the changes they are seeking to implement are no longer hidden from view. Over the next two years, today's Democratic Party will finally show itself to no longer be the party of my father's time. Of course, many of us have seen that long ago, but many Roosevelt Democrats will finally see it for the first time. And I hope they keep that in mind when they go to vote in 2008.