Tulsi Gabbard was increasingly feeling stifled in the Democratic Party which is under influence of Left
Former US presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s exit from the Democratic Party is hardly surprising, for she had been increasingly feeling alienated. On some important issues—like radical Islam, American withdrawal from wars that don’t concern it, and immigration—she was closer to conservatives rather than liberals. She was feeling stifled in a liberal party in which the power and influence of the Left has been increasing for quite some time. She rightly blamed the Democratic Party for “racialising every issue in the nation.” The former US Congresswoman, who also served in the military, rose rapidly in the party in the last 20 years that she spent in it. But she could not remain in it because, she said in a video, it “is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism.” This is valid criticism as it comes from a person who is not white; she is American-Samoan. Though Gabbard is a Hindu by faith, as evident from her name, she is not of Indian origin. Interestingly, owing to her mixed ancestry, embrace of Hinduism, and liberal views on several issues, she was a rising star in the Democratic Party. She went to become a presidential candidate. So, why did the 41-year-old leader leave the party in which she had done so well? It seems this had less to do with her than with her party, which has been toying with extreme Leftist, even anarchist ideas like that of defunding the police and opening borders.
When the Left’s influence increases in a liberal party, irrationality and folly also rise: the denouement is often disastrous. It happened in the 1970s in Indira Gandhi’s Congress, leading to economic misery and then authoritarianism, resulting in her ouster. Again, when the Left gained ascendance in 2004 when its outside support brought the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance into power, the communists’ influence was greatly disproportionate to their political strength. They put brakes on economic reforms, some of which, like privatisation, were killed (It took seven years for the Narendra Modi government to resurrect it). In the US too, the Left’s influence gets reflected in policy. This is something a patriot like Gabbard could not tolerate. She has been against the demonisation of police and protection of criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans. She said, “The Democrats of today believe in open borders and weaponise the national security state to go after political opponents. Above all else, the Democrats of today are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.” She was not just criticised for her views on foreign policy; insinuations were made about her being a Russian “asset.” Former US secretary of state and party colleague Hillary Clinton said in 2019, “She’s the favorite of the Russians.” Gabbard’s exit from the Democratic Party is the departure of reason and commonsense.