These 'working' definitions are presented to help those who are just beginning their study of the philosophies and theories of the Frankfurt School, more commonly known as the 'Critical Theory.' They should not be considered as the last word in describing the term or concept in question.

Neo-Conservatism -- is a version of conservatism that is in extreme opposition to the liberal, social, and political approaches that grew out of the Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Johnson administrations. Neo-Conservatives, those who believe in the Neo-Conservative position, advocate, but are not limited to, the following:

• A return to the traditional Christian values of morality and family life of the late 19th century. They believe this "return" will significantly improve or completely correct the social problems of our present society.
• An intellectual attitude or belief that western capitalism is the greatest encourager and promoter of freedom, self-independence, and equality for an individual.
• An extreme opposition to federal and state intervention as a means to promote equality and freedom for the individual.
• An extreme opposition to Communism and Socialism.

Noncombustible Data -- a term Ray Bradbury used in Fahrenheit 451 (first published in 1953) to describe information that is incapable of producing reflection, analysis, contemplation, comparison, and/or an understanding of how a political, social, or economic system works; for example, the 'answers' given to the 'questions' asked on the TV gameshow Jeopardy. Here is the text in question...
Captain Beatty: "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag [Montag is the main character in Fahrenheit 451]. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of 'facts' they feel stuffed, but absolutely 'brilliant' with information. Then they'll feel they're thinking, they'll get a sense of motion without moving. And they'll be happy, because facts of that sort don't change. Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with" (Bradbury 1991, pg. 61).
First posted 07-28-2004

Patriot -- any individual who loves his country and is tolerant of foreigners who prefer their country to the patriot's country.

Privacy -- In an interview with Playboy magazine (February 1996), Andrew Bacard, author of "The Computer Privacy Handbook", stated, "Privacy is the ability to control what, when, and how your personal data is given to other people. Powerful institutions believe their right to privacy has a bonafide basis (for instance, "national security" or "trade secrets"), while the individual's claim to privacy is suspicious and subject to these institutions' veto. For me, privacy is a necessary part of democracy. That's why we vote with secret ballots." To Playboy's question, "Yet many people reading this may be thinking, So what? I have nothing to hide," he replied, "Show me someone who has no financial, sexual, social, political, or professional secrets to keep from his family, neighbors or colleagues, and I'll show you someone who is either an exhibitionist or a dullard. Show me a corporation that has no trade secrets or confidential records, and I'll show you a business that isn't very successful. Discretion and tact are pillars of civilization."
First Posted on 11-10-1999, also see Digital Cookies

Proletariat -- According to Marx, "a class of labourers, who live only so long as they find work, and who find work only so long as their labour increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market" (Tucker, 1978, 479). In other words, an individual belonging to the class of wage earners, who, possessing neither capital, production means, or objects to sell, and must earn their living by selling their labour power in order to consume the products that were 'produced' by the capitalist. See Surplus Value for more details. In short, anyone who collects a paycheck is a member of the Proletariat class. In addition, anyone who collects a pay check AND supplements their income by unlawful and/or illegal means is a member of the lumpenproletariat class. The opposite of the proletariat is bourgeoisie, which is divided in to the High Bourgeoisie and Low Bourgeoisie classes.
Revised 02-11-2007

Post-modernism or Postmodernism (Work in progress) -- a regression into relativism; an anti-modern philosophical and/or anti-scientific orientation; a counter-enlightenment movement; a rejection of universalism; an advocacy of the philosophical orientations of Lacan, Derrida, and Foucault; a poor and/or weak critique of modernity.

The chief characteristic or theme that nearly all post-modernists could agree with is the belief that human language supercedes the material world. In other words, post-modernists reject the basic tenet of Marxism which argues that there exist a dialectical relationship between the material world and human language wherein the material world is the prime mover. Marx states "For Hegel, the process of thinking, which he even transforms into an independent subject, under the name of 'the Idea,' is the creator of the real world, and the real world is only the external appearance of the idea. With me the reverse is true: the ideal is nothing but the material world reflected in the mind of man, and translated into forms of thought (Marx 1990, 102). Putting it yet another way, post-modernists assert that human language create and shape the material world. Marxist argue that human language (the main form of human thought) is nothing more than an account of the production, exchange, and consumption cycle of the material world in the hands of human kind.
First posted 03-17-2006

Religion -- a symbolic and ritualized cultural 'system of knowledge,' which informs behavior, that offers one means of surviving this complex thing we call "Life" (Jensen, 2004, 3).

Philosophy -- The science comprising logic, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, and epistemology; the investigation of causes and laws understanding reality. According to Bertrand Russell, "Philosophy is the no-man's land between science and theology, exposed to attack from both sides." According to Max Horkheimer, "Philosophy is the conscious effort to knit all our knowledge and insight into a linguistic structure in which things are called by their right [correct] names" (1999, 179). According to Slavoj Zizek (b. 1949), a Lacanian-Marxist, "Philosophy does not solve problems. The duty of Philosophy is not to solve problems but to redefine problems, to show how what we experience as a problem is a false problem. If what we experience as a problem is a true problem, then you don't need philosophy. For example, let's say that now there would be a deadly virus coming from out there in space, so not in any way mediated though our human history, and it would threaten all of us. We don't need, basically, philosophy there. We simply need good science desperately to find -- We would desperately need good science to find the solution, to stop this virus. We don't need philosophy there, because the threat is a real threat, directly. You cannot play philosophical tricks and say 'no, this is not the' -- You know what I mean. It's simply our life would be -- or okay, the more vulgar, even, simpler science fiction scenario. It's kind of 'Armageddon' [the 1998 movie] or whatever. No, 'Deep Impact' [also a 1998 movie]. A big comet threatening to hit the Earth. You don't need philosophy here..... I don't think that philosophers ever provided answers, but I think this was the greatness of philosophy, not in this common sense that philosophers just ask questions and so on. What is philosophy? Philosophy is not what some people think, some crazy exercise in absolute truth, and then you can adopt this skeptical attitude: we, thought scientists, are dealing with actual measurable solvable problems. Philosophers just ask stupid metaphysical questions and so on, play with absolute truths, which we all know is inaccessible. No, I think philosophy's a very modest discipline. Philosophy asks a different question, the true philosophy. How does a philosopher approach the problem of freedom? It's not 'Are we free or not?' 'Is there God or not?' It asks a simple question, which will be called a hermeneutic question: 'What does it mean to be free?' So this is what philosophy basically does. It just asks, when we use certain notions, when we do certain acts, and so on and so on, what is the implicit horizon of understanding? It doesn't ask these stupid ideal questions: 'Is there truth?' No. The question is, 'What do you mean when you say this is true?' So you can see, it's a very modest thing, philosophy. Philosophers are not the madmen who search for some eternal truth, and so on and so on." According to Marx, "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it."
Revised 11-28-2007

Remembrance -- is the present consciousness of past experiences.

Republican -- is a member of the American capitalist political organization known as the 'Republican Party.' According to the Republican National Committee or the RNC for short, a "republican believes that the individual's dignity, freedom, ability, and responsibility must be honored". The RNC make no mention of whether the rights of one individual or a select few, supercede those of the collective. Republicans perceive the following to be true in America:

• that "free enterprise and the encouragement of individual initiative have brought this nation opportunity, economic growth and prosperity,"
• that "the proper role of government is to provide for the people only those critical functions that cannot be performed by individuals or private organizations,"
• "government must practice fiscal responsibility,"
• the American people are over taxed,
• and "that the best government is that which governs least."

Rites -- are a prescribed form or manner governing the words or actions of a particular ceremony.

Ritual -- is a habit or a compulsion that that's aim is to give worship to a particular divine agent (such as a god, set of gods, or a saint) and / or to invoke remembrance of either a past or future religious event. Sometimes rituals are see as a form of technology used to control or change the believers environment, such as the case of cleansing and excising rituals.
Revised 09-10-2000

Romanticism -- a strong, usually short lived attachment or enthusiasm; inclination towards the romantic or adventurous.

Secret Sins Theory -- a form of rationalization used to explain the senseless deaths of the innocent, the pious, children, and/or infants. Used manly in disasters or catastrophes in order to justify the actions and existence of god. An example of Secret Sin Theory in action, "The reason all those people died horribly is because they all had committed secret sin against god, that only god knew about, and were punished for them." The "Secret Sin" theory has been used to inadequately answer the Theodicy question for centuries.

Slaughter-bench -- A Hegelian comparison and question referring to "History as the slaughter-bench at which the happiness of peoples, the wisdom of States, and the virtue of individuals have been victimised - the question involuntarily arises - to what principle, to what final aim these enormous sacrifices have been offered," Philosophy of History (1837).
First posted 09-23-2007

Social Character -- "Over his lifetime, Fromm identified eight major varieties of social characters, those being the (1) authoritarian, (2) receptive, (3) exploitative, (4) hoarding, (5) marketing, (6) narcissistic, (7) necrophilous, and (8) productive social characters." (2017:59)
Social character: An explanation (2017:67-70)
[Quote] With a firm understanding of what Fromm means when he uses the word character, let us turn our attention to how he defines “social character.” To accomplish this task, let us collect Fromm’s most salient passages on the subject matter.
   The earliest reference to social character — that I could find — is in The dogma of Christ (1930). This essay contains Fromm’s Marxist analysis/critique, grounded in historical materialism, concerning the origins of Christian dogma, its connection with Mother-Right, and the cycling of primary dogmas. In a nut shell, the cycling of primary dogmas, described by Fromm, began with the notion that the Divine was understood as first a ‘father-god,’ then ‘a man who becomes God,’ then ‘a God who becomes man,’ and finally, ‘a mother-god and her infant son.’ Fromm believed that “Catholicism signified the disguised return” to the ‘mother-god’ while Protestantism signified a return to the “father-god” (Fromm 1963). Within this 80+ page essay, written some 84+ years ago, Fromm first expresses his notion of social charterer: “One expects to hear something about the psychic structure of the individual member of a group, but the social-psychological investigation can study only the character matrix common to all members of the group, and does not take into account the total character structure of a particular individual.” (Fromm 1963) As we will soon see, the phrase “common to all members of the group,” is the key component in Fromm’s concept of social charterer.
In Escape from freedom (1941), Fromm explained: “The social character comprises only a selection of traits, the essential nucleus of the character structure of most members of a group which has developed as the result of the basic experiences and mode of life common to that group. Although there will be always "deviants" with a totally different character structure, the character structure of most members of the group are variations of this nucleus, brought about by the accidental factors of birth and life experience as they differ from one individual to another. If we want to understand one individual most fully, these differentiating elements are of the greatest importance. However, if we want to understand how human energy is channeled and operates as a productive force in a given social order, then the social character deserves our main interest. The concept of social character is a key concept for the understanding of the social process.” (Fromm 1994) With his use of the phrases “basic experiences,” “mode of life,” “productive force,” and “social process,” Fromm grounds this theory of social character in the production/exchange/consumption cycle, Marx’s theory of class, and the dialectical relationship between the base and superstructure.
   In The sane society (1955), in the hope to bring about a discourse concerning the industrialized world’s mental health problems, Fromm further clarifies his concept of social character by stating: “Only if we can arrive at such a picture of the "social character," tentative and incomplete as it may be, do we have a basis on which to judge the mental health and sanity of modern man [i.e., human beings]. What is meant by social character? I refer in this concept to the nucleus of the character structure which is shared by most members of the same culture in contradistinction to the individual character in which people belonging to the same culture differ from each other.” (Fromm 1990; brackets added) As you can see, the above declarative drives home the point that (1) social character shows how an individual is part of the social herd and (2) character is how an individual demonstrates he or she is unique or ‘separate from the herd.’ In addition, Fromm informs his reader that his: “concept of social character is not a statistical concept in the sense that it is simply the sum total of character traits to be found in the majority of people in a given culture. It can be understood only in reference to the function of the social character.” (Fromm 1963) In other words, Fromm wants to assure his readers that his concept of social character is far more than a statistical observation (i.e., social aggregate) that was stumbled upon during the course of a unrelated sociological regression analysis.
   In Beyond the chains of illusions (1962), Fromm states: “It is the function of the social character to shape the energies of the members of society in such a way that their behavior is not a matter of conscious decision as to whether or not to follow the social pattern, but one of wanting to act as they have to act and at the same time finding gratification in acting according to the requirements of the culture. In other words, it is the social character’s function to mold and channel human energy within a given society for the purpose of the continued functioning of this society.” (Fromm 1963) To put it bluntly, according to Fromm, social character is the “cement that holds society together” (Cortina and Maccoby 1996; Fromm and Maccoby 1996) because it ‘molds and channels human energy’ for the various groups that make up society. Sociologically speaking, it is the apparatus that connects the base to the superstructure and vice versa.[End Quote] (2017:67-70)
First posted 09-17-2017

Social Darwinism -- is a perversion of Darwin's original theory by fascist and nationalistic ideologies, into the survival of the strongest race, culture, or nationality. According to Darwin, natural selection tends to favor the survival of an individual animal or plant whose peculiarities render them best adapted to their environment.

Socialism -- "is the social ownership of the means of production and their utilisation to satisfy the material and the cultural requirements of the whole society. Socialism is neccessary because only by such a radical transformation of the economic basis of society can the evils resulting from capitalism be done away with, and new powerful techniques be fully utilised" (Cornforth 1973).
Socialism is in direct opposition to Capitalism and Fascism that allow the individual's rights to liberty, property, and Surplus Value to be taken by the "capitalist". Two things are exceptionally clear in the mind of a socialist,

• Socialism denies the "owner" or the capitalist the right to steal the "workers" surplus value, and
• That the state exists solely for the promotion and perpetuation of a better life for the entire collective and not just a select few.

To be clear, United States of American is not a socialist country; it is the best example of a capitalistic country with a long history of fascist tendencies. If you require a short explanation concerning the difference between Socialism and Communism, click this line.

Society -- According to Marx, "Nothing is more erroneous than the manner in which economists[,] as well as socialists[,] regard society in relation to economic conditions. Proudhon, for example, replies to Bastiat by saying (XVI, 29): 'For society, the difference between capita] and product does not exist. This difference is entirely subjective, and related to individuals.' Thus he calls subjective precisely what is social; and he calls society a subjective abstraction. The difference between product and capital is exactly this, that the product expresses, as capital, a particular relation belonging to a historic form of society. This so-called contemplation from the standpoint of society means nothing more than the overlooking of the differences which express the social relation (relation of bourgeois society). Society does not consist of individuals, but expresses the sum of interrelations, [i.e.] the relations within which these individuals stand. As if someone were to say: Seen from the perspective of society, there are no slaves and no citizens: both are human beings. Rather, they are that outside society. To be a slave, to be a citizen, are social characteristics, relations between human beings A and B. Human being A, as such, is not a slave. He is a slave in and through society. What Mr Proudhon here says about capital and product means, for him, that from the viewpoint of society there is no difference between capitalists and workers; a difference which exists precisely only from the standpoint of society."
--- The Marx-Engels Reader (1978)
--- The The Grundrisse (1857)
--- Pg. 246-247, Bracketed text added for clarification.
First posted in 03-06-2012.

Solidarity -- is a form of human interaction that involves the union of a group of individuals with the same interests, objectives, standards, and/or needs acting as a unified force to obtain a certain short-term, one-time, or a life time goal.  For example a short-term goal would be a strike against management to attain better working conditions, a one-time goal would be creating a new law, and lifetime goal would be bring about a more just, humane, rational, and reconciled society. Solidarity has been reached at many different social levels through history and can still be reached today. For example, Emergency Ethics are a type of solidarity that only last until society re-establishes itself, such as law, order, and disaster relief mechanisms (fire, rescue, relief departments, and etc).  In a disaster, local and area neighbors, those who are directly or indirectly affected by the disaster in question, come to the aid of their fellow human beings, giving either their time and/or money to help the victims of disaster.

During World War II, the working class within United States had solidarity with themselves against the Axis Powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan).  This collective worked towards a speedy end to the war by

• Recycling goods needed to build war tools (armor, air-craft, small arms, and etc),
• Sacrificing some of their buying liberties for certain perishable goods (chocolate, meat, and etc),
• Sacrificing some of their traveling rights (gas cards), and
• Growing "Victory Gardens" to allow most of the fresh produce to be sent to their fathers, brothers, and sons fighting the war in Europe and the Pacific.

These sacrifices allowed US soldiers to be well equipped and well nourished to do their very best to help win World War II.

Solipsism -- the most extreme form of Descartes' maximum "Cogito, ergo sum" (I think, therefore I am); the logical conclusion of existentialism. For a solipsist, 'reality' is a mental construct of one's own mind; a collection of self created thought projections for the mind to experience. Putting it another way, according to solipsism, the computer monitor you are currently reading, the chair you are sitting in, and the human being who wrote this text, are all constructed by your own mind for your own amusement. For you see, solipsism is the belief that the mental self is the whole of reality and only the self exists. In other words, they seriously question the existence of an external material world. In short, the solipsist becomes a god and, phrasing Clint Eastwood's fictional character - Inspector Harry Callahan, 'a legend in one's own mind.'
First posted in 07-09-2007.

Sublated -- To negate, deny, or contradict.
First posted 06-27-2007

Surplus Value -- is the difference between the value of the product or service AND the wages paid to the worker, minus the raw material and the overhead that was used to produce that one product/service. Overhead is being defined as the cost to run and maintain the machines and/or tools that the worker uses to produce the product/service from the raw material.

Example: Let us say that a chair cost $100 and took 1 hour worth of labor to produce. The price paid to the worker for that one-hour of labor was $10. The cost of the raw material used to create the chair is $5 and the cost of the overhead used to create that one chair is $10. Then the Surplus Value of the Labor equals $75.

The historical conflict rises out of determining who gets the Surplus Value. A fascist would say that certain workers are not even entitled to the price paid to the worker for that one-hour. Meaning, using the example above, a fascist believes that they are entitled to 85 of the 100 dollars. One should never forget that the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, during World War II, were actually labor camps. A capitalist would say that they are entitled to the Surplus Value of every chair produced, until the chair is no longer produced, because they had the original idea for that type of chair and/or that they took the risk to set up the factory to produce the chair. A socialist would say that the worker is entitled to a vast majority of the Surplus Value because they labored to produce the chair and the capitalist is entitled to a small amount of the Surplus Value for their contributions of the tools and/or machinery. A communist would say that the worker is entitled to all the Surplus Value because the worker was the one who toiled to produce the chair. In the communist mind, the capitalist's and fascist's claim to the Surplus Value is unfounded because their risk was minimal and the money used to build their factories came from stealing previous workers Surplus Value. For a simplified explanation of the concept of Surplus Value, click this line.
Revised 05-27-2004

Terrorism -- In essence, 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.' In other words, in the eyes of King George the III (who reigned from 1760 to 1820), the signers of the constitution, including George Washington, were terrorists. According to Walter Laqueur, "terrorism constitutes the illegitimate use of force to achieve a political objective when innocent people are targeted." Building on the previous example, on December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams' 'Sons of Liberty,' disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped the tea of the Dartmouth, Eleanor, and the Beaver (cargo ships owned by the East India Company) into the Boston Harbor. In other words, again in the mind of King George, the Sons of Liberty had no right to target the innocent East India Company to achieve their political objective to end the King's tea tax. According to James M. Poland, "terrorism is the premeditated, deliberate, systematic murder, mayhem, and threatening of the innocent to create fear and intimidation in order to gain a political or tactical advantage, usually to influence an audience."
Again, building on the previous example, in the mind of King George, George Washington deliberately premeditated the systematic murder of the innocent colonists who were loyal to the King and the British troops that were sent to protect the King's subjects in order to gain a tactical advantage against the British monarchy. In the mind of Osama Bin Laden (a terrorist in the eyes of George W. Bush and his administration), Bin Laden is fighting to remove US troops from Islam's Holy Land (Saudi Arabia) and stop the moral decay of Muslims, which Bin Laden believes is caused by the dumping of American goods into Muslim countries. The reader should not take the previous statement as a defense of Osama Bin Laden's actions. However, the statement tries to point out the hypocrisy in the term 'terrorism.' As a point of general interest, the organization that creates the United States of America's terrorist is called 'Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation,' A.K.A. the 'School of Americas.'
First posted 09-08-2003

Theocracy -- A society or country that is govern from one religious belief system. Typically, theocracies have little or no tolerance for any other religion or culture other than their own. Examples of theocracies: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Iraq.

Theodicy -- (From the Greek (Theo meaning god - dikae meaning justice)) A questioning doctrine concerning the justification of a god's actions or lack of them. The theodicy question destroys the religious faith of the individual, of any religion, whenever it can not be property answered. A "Proper" answer to the theodicy question is an answer that the believer can believe. Examples of theodicy questions:

• "If god is all powerful and all knowing, how could god allow the concentration camps to kill off so many of my people?"
• "If Jesus loves everyone, why is my daughter to dying of cancer?"
• "Why would Allah allow Israel to take our land?"
• "If Christ has saved mankind, why does he let the world continue in this manner?"

Typically, the "answer" to any theodicy question can cause one of five temporary, sometimes permanent, effects on the believer:

• the believer gains comfort from the "answer" and grows in faith of that religion,
• the believer is driven away from their religion to another religion for a better "answer",
• the believer become a Deist,
• the believer become an Agnostic,or
• the believer becomes an Atheist.

For many Christians, Saint Augustine of Hippo offers an answer to the Theodicy question in chapter seven of his book "Confessions." He believes that evil is a perversion of the will of god and is perpetuated by humanities indifference and lack of solidarity towards his fellow human beings. By and large, modern Christians are still accepting this answer.

Theology -- is the rational interpretation of religious texts, practices, and rituals of a particular religious tradition for the purpose of proving the "truth claims" of that particular religion.

Tradition -- is a collection of beliefs and/or rituals that are passed from one human being to another, by way of words and actions, in order to remember and reflect on a given event(s).

Truth -- "Truth is the negation of Ideology" - a quote attributed to Theodor W. Adorno.
Revised 07-03-2006

Weltanschauungen -- a comprehensive view of the world and human life.
First posted 07-07-2007

Weasel Words -- are phrases that refer to unspecified claims of facticity based on nameless authorities in order to make a premise and/or argument scientifically accurate when it is not. The goal of such an endeavor is to make an opinion into a fact, in order to persuade an ignorant and/or poorly educated individual that the falsehood is true.
Examples:
'some scientists argue that...,'
'critics say...,'
'it has been said that...,'
'studies have shown ...,'
'according to many specialist in the field...,' etc.
For a better understanding of this concept, rent Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. For more examples, watch Fox News:-)
First posted 01-20-2008

Weapons of Mass Destruction (a.k.a. WMD) -- Any nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, that have the potential to kill and/or injure thousands of people, in the hands of any nation that is not engaging in subservient economic trade relations with the United States of America. These 'unfriendly' nations, who oppose the United States' trade policies, are sometime referred to as 'communist' countries. In other words, these communist nations control production and consumption of their natural resources to pay for their citizen's free health care and free education, opposed to allowing US corporations to do it for them. Due to the fear and anxiety that the phrase generates, it is also referred to as ‘Weapons of Mass Distraction.’ The phrase conjures up a national response, in US citizens, that foreigners are out to destroy the American way of life and that the US government has the right to attack first those who 'appear' to be a threat. This allows the US to ‘mug’ third world nations of their natural resources (i.e. oil, gas, minerals, and human labor) in the name of ‘national defense’ and ‘searching for WMD’ when in reality it is in the name of corporate America and their future profits. What the masses in the US fail to recognize or accept is that the United States of America is the largest producer and owner of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.
First posted 06-30-2003

Yellow Dog Democrat -- would vote for anyone, including a yellow (cowardly) dog, who ran on the Democratic ticket. These staunch loyalists to the Democratic Party whole heartily believe that the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will force those who win, running on the Democratic ticket, into acting like democrats. For a history of Yellow Dog Democrats, see yellowdogdemocrat.com
First posted 01-14-2004
Revised 10-16-2005