Palm Beach and its disenchanted Democrats

Regarding Steve Bousquet’s May 14 column about Palm Beach County’s divided Democratic party, you have the who, what, when and where. The Sun Sentinel must put its Pulitzer Prize investigative skills to work and find out why the party’s status is dismal.

There must be more than technical incompetence to explain why area Democrats are abandoning society’s core segment that cares about democracy, equality, civil rights, the environment, public education, the social safety net, and that all people are created equal.

While I doubt that many traditional Democrats are abandoning ship, some are falling victim to Father Time. What about those who are taking their place? Why are new Floridians not wholeheartedly embracing the principles that were bedrock of the once-esteemed and envied American way?

Could part of the reason be that a multitudinous news media sends muddled messages? Candidates and ideas that get the most air time get votes, regardless of how meritless. Is one key that many newcomers come from backgrounds where equality is not integral to the fabric of life? Is it simply pervasive greed with the mantra that “as long as I get mine, no one else matters”?

In Bousquet’s column, Palm Beach County Democratic party chair Mindy Koch asked for six months more time. We don’t have six months. The first step must be to ascertain the concerns behind Democratic disenchantment. Those concerns must be quickly rectified with far-flung, factual, informational efforts enumerating all the ways the Democratic party (and current administration in Washington) strive to make life better for all Americans. Once known, the true facts will be impossible to ignore.

Susan Breece,