Ohio Coal Mine Canary at the SOTU: Democrat Tim Ryan

By Peter Skurkiss

You have to shake your head in amazement as to what has happened to the Democratic Party. To see what I mean, look at Rep. Tim Ryan. He represents Ohio's 13th Congressional District in northeast Ohio which is centered in the gritty city of Youngstown.

Ryan is said to be a moderate within his party. Some even hoped he would replace the radical leftist Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco as the Minority Leader in the House. That didn't happen, and now Ryan dances to Pelosi's tune like organ grinder's monkey on a string. For example, take Ryan's behavior at the State of the Union Address. There, Ryan reserved the empty guest seat next to him in honor an illegal alien who was deported.

This has blue collar workers in Ryan's district scratching their heads, wondering just what his priorities are. Why didn't Ryan, who tirelessly claims to represent the middle class, reverse the seat for a fallen military man or woman from his district? Or how about leaving the seat empty as a symbol for the hundreds in his district who have died from over-dosing in the opioid epidemic? These people are ones who Ryan purports his heart bleeds for? But oh, no. Instead the honor went to an illegal alien. Why?

This answer is known to American Thinker readers. But to those still trapped in the media bubble, it is a puzzle. The fact is that the identifying issues for Democrats is nowhere near related to concerns of men and women in the middle class. Rather it's to open borders, amnesty, and endless immigration. Note, it was for the sake of amnesty and nothing else, that the Democrats in the Senate recently shut the government down.

And it isn't a mystery to those who watch the unfolding political drama with an objective eye as to why the Democrats have tossed the American middle class overboard for their new love --- Third World immigrants, both illegal and illegal. It is because, as Democrats find it more and more difficult to win votes from the American middle class with their radically progressive agenda, they need to refresh their voter base or perish. Accordingly, the Democrats work tirelessly to bring needy immigrants into the country to fill the gap. Hence the Democrat push for amnesty and chain migration. It's as obvious as 1 1 = 2.

Tim Ryan was obediently toeing the party line with his antics at the State of the Union Address. That this man is considered a moderate within his party makes him like a canary in a coal mine. Ryan 's behavior shows the health of the Democrat Party is in dire straits, maybe terminal. The 'moderate' Ryan confirms just how radical and out of touch from the American middle class the Democrat Party has become.