# Is the Democratic party headed in the wrong direction?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-democratic-party-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/579187
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [April 21, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-democratic-party-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/579187 "2011-04-21T05:15:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2011, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-democratic-party-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/579187/7 "2011-04-21T11:30:26Z")

</div>

OP, is it better to encourage responsibility or to take responsibility?

If it’s desirable for individuals to be responsible, why not for a government?

And if you fall back on the importance of consent, let me preempt that: Nothing government does is or should be consensual. Government is an authority; if it’s not coercive, you’re doing it wrong.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-democratic-party-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/579187)._