I know plenty of Democrats. Both of my parents were Democrats. Some of my siblings. Almost all of my cousins.

Heeding President John F. Kennedy’s call to ask not what your country can do for you, but to ask what you can do for your country, they believe government should protect working families against the predatory practices of multinational corporations such as Amazon, Facebook and Google.

They fought and continue to fight bravely, both on and off the battlefield, in defense of America’s founding principles of free speech, freedom of religion and of conscience, freedom of association, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures.

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Yet the tragedy of our time is that these Democrats are being betrayed by their own party, by imposters who pretend to be Democrats but are not.

The truth is, freedom-loving Democrats and Republicans stand together against a third group that has infiltrated our national political parties – extreme leftists who openly reject the ideals expressed by the American founders.

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Whether they call themselves democratic socialists or “woke” advocates for social justice, these authoritarian leftists have little in common with past leaders of the Democratic Party – people such as Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, along with governors like Ann Richards of Texas.

While Jimmy Carter said “the love of liberty is a common blood that flows in our American veins,” the new authoritarian leftists seek to do everything they can to restrict freedom, not expand it.

For Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a self-described democratic socialist who spent his honeymoon touring the Soviet Union, that means making private health insurance illegal and creating a “national wealth registry” to aid government confiscation of “excessive” wealth.

Of course, many, if not most, real Democrats are horrified by these leftist assaults on long-established American liberties.

For former Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, D-Texas, it means that all churches, synagogues, mosques and religious organizations that do not publicly accept gay marriage shall lose their tax-exempt status and not be allowed to participate in public life.

“There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone, or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us,” O’Rourke said at a CNN town hall Oct. 10.

For New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, it means passing a law making it a crime to use the words “illegal alien” in a way that can be construed as “demeaning,” punishable by a fine of up to $250,000.

Indeed, the new authoritarians seem to go out of their way to attack the Bill of Rights, especially freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the right to bear arms.

“I would love to regulate free speech,” Rep Ted Lieu, D-Calif., announced in a jaw-dropping admission on live TV a year ago. “The First Amendment prevents me from doing so.”

Realizing what he had just admitted to, Lieu quickly added that it’s probably better if government not regulate speech but, instead, “outsource” such censorship to big tech monopolies such as YouTube and Facebook. “I would urge these private sector companies to regulate it better themselves,” he said.

In the past, Democrats sought to use the power of the state to check the worst excesses of the free market, to provide a safety net for people in time of need, while simultaneously protecting the fundamental rights and responsibilities outlined in the U.S. Constitution.

In contrast, the imposters now taking over the Democratic Party want to abolish parts of the U.S. Constitution and replace them with something else — an alien ideology that gladly sacrifices basic civil liberties in the pursuit of allegedly higher ideals.

"Leftists are more likely than liberals to argue that economic inequality renders America’s constitutional liberties hollow," Peter Beinart wrote in The Atlantic. "They’re more likely to look abroad — to the Soviet Union or Cuba in past eras, and to Scandinavia today — for alternatives to America’s political and economic models."

Of course, many, if not most, real Democrats are horrified by these leftist assaults on long-established American liberties.

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They are quick to say they are fighting for better wages and affordable health care, not a “Green New Deal” that could cost as much as $93 trillion.

Yet, if they are not careful, their party will soon be led not by pro-union Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, but by extreme leftist ideologues who care more about punishing churches for thought crimes than they do about creating jobs and better schools.

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