Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-09-11
What it is to be a Democrat.

The opposition journals become irresisti-
bly, facetious when they speak Of the harmo-
NOUS Democracy We do not recollect a
period when they have been otherwise be-
fore an election The idea Of such thing
as general principle running through the
ranks. consolidating them against a COM
mon enemy, and for common purpose, is
a mystery they cannot solve, and they look,
or seem to look, always, with settled ex
pectaton, to the irretrievable dissolution Of
our camp.
Were we disposed to the mere child's
play Of retort for retort's sake, we might
turn upon these journals their own division
and discussions, ard ask how it is that they
see so much to object against the Democra-
cy, for uniting discordant elements, when
they themselves urge union Of all the ele-
ments Of opposition. medly of isms which
we shall not attempt to name, with the
avowed purpose Of triumph and spoils a
lone?
Our object is different, higher and more
|seryiceable It is to show, that however
much there may be Of dispute and difference
on minor points, there are cardinal ele-
ments of faith which indissolubly band the
Democracy, North, South; East and West,
which override all else, tolerate all else,
harmonic all else, make the party irwin
chile before the American people. A prin-
ciple which, like the faith of Christianity
suffers not from the division Of its church,
and bands all sects in common creed.
That cardinal faith is simple, easy of
comprehension and distinct It is:
| 1st. That the Constitution of the United
States is the limitation Of Federal powers,
and must be interpreted strictly to define
them
ID That all questions Of general policy
must be subservient to constitutional re-
quirements.
Sd. That the rights Of State sovereignty
cannot be impaired.
4th. That the laws of nature and the
instincts of individual enterprise give the
best development to the eountry's resour-
ces.
9Th. That constitutional taxation is for
the support Of government, not the adj
vancement Of special enterprises or Sec
tons.
9th. That the frecst trade, the purest
currency, the largest liberty, the larges
taxation, form the safest policy for free
country.
That is our creed.
If our neighbors will examine it, they
will learn how it is that we seem to be op-
posed to everything, and have nothing Of
our own to propose.
It is a creed which leans on God, and
trusts to the great laws which God has es-
tablished
It is creed which lets we'll enough alone,
and trusts to the nature of man to develope
the riches of nature.
Our opponents trust a legislative curren-
cy; we, the currency which nature recon-
mends. Our opponents trust a Legislative
development; we, the prosperity which ma
lures gifts afford. Our opponents trust a
development Of general intererest by feder-
al laws; we, the grand aggregate of indi-
vidual enterprise. This is the law Of the
Democratic party. Its policy conflicts ev-
erywhere with the Capitalization of power
Its hopes lean on the public integrity and
judgement, and its constitutional theory is
that communities better understand them
selves and their interest than do distant
sections South Side Democrat