My Democratic father and Republican mother loved each other. Would that work out today?

I grew up in a divided political family. My father was a Democrat, and not just any Democrat. He was what was known in Tennessee 50 years ago as a “yeller dog Democrat.”

That was someone who would vote for the Democratic nominee for public office even if the Democrats nominated a yellow dog.

When you consider that twice in my father’s lifetime, the Democratic nominee for Governor of Tennessee actually ended up in prison, the Democratic Party may have been better off had they actually nominated yellow dogs!

My mother was a lifelong Republican who never voted for a Democrat in her life, whether the Democrat was a man or woman or dog or cat.

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My parents cancelled each other’s votes

Both my parents could tell you exactly why they were loyal to their chosen political party. My father said he was a Democrat because the Democratic Party was the party of the working man or woman,  or as Dad put it, “the common man.”

My mother said she was a Republican because the GOP stood for freedom and did not tell us how to live our lives and what we could or could not do.

My father said the Democratic Party represented the interests of folks in rural America

and small towns such as Bemis, Tennessee, the mill town whether my father had grown up and his father, my grandfather, had worked in the Bemis cotton mill. He derided “country club Republicans” who were rich folks who, at best, gave Democrats low-paying jobs.

My mother pointed out that neither she nor anyone in our family had ever belonged to a country club, and that Democrats supported massive and expensive federal programs while Republicans believed in balanced budgets.

Despite their political differences, my mother and father loved each other very much and never let  politics interfere with our strong family.  They even laughed about their political disagreements, my mother telling me that on Election Day: “Your father and I cancel each other’s vote.”

Democrats and Republicans today do not reflect my parents’ values

My parents both passed away many elections ago and now live together in that sweet by-and-by where there is neither sorrow, pain or politics.

But I do wonder that if my parents were still alive and voting, would they even recognize their old political parties?

The Democratic Party in the 21st Century has more in common with Wall Street than Main Street,  and is more aligned with Hollywood, California than Bemis, Tennessee.

Former Democratic presidents like Bill Clinton and Barack Obama make speeches to Wall Street folks and even country club members for fees of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And you can hardly find a Democrat on farms or anywhere in rural America. The Democrats are found on the coasts and in faculty lounges at private universities, rather than in public schools or the courthouse squares in small town America.

Republicans meanwhile claim they stand for freedom, limited government, and balanced budgets. But they tell women that they cannot make their own choices about health care and family planning. And ironically, the only presidents to produce a balance budget in the past 60 years have been Democrats Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton, not that any current Democrats in Washington are about to do the same.

Americans needs leaders who will not vilify their adversaries

Republicans were once staunchly anti-Communist. Now the most recent Republican President and possibly the next one expresses his admiration of Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Democrats and Republicans once supported police and law and order. But now Republicans claim that the riots and assault on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th 2020 were “peaceful protests.”

Democrats contend that crime in America has actually declined during the Biden Administration, based on statistics that mean nothing to millions of Americans who are afraid to go out after dark.

And perhaps worst of all, Democrats and Republicans do not simply disagree with one another on political issues while still respecting different points of view, as my loving Democrat father and Republican mother did. They now vilify each other, claiming the opposing party is out to destroy our country. So much for E Pluribus Unum.

I am not sure what the answer to our broken political system. But I intend to support only candidates for public office who do not claim that they and only they have the answers to our common problems, and that rather than vilifying their opponents, they will seek to work with them to find such answers.

The problem is where will I find such candidates?

Bill Haltom is an author who resides in Memphis and Monteagle.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Democrats and Republicans like my parents once could fall in love