Your take on these things, as usual, is more reasonable than what I hear from Democratic policymakers and pundits on the Left.

Here's my blind man's view of the elephant, i.e. the New Democratic (by which I mean the leftist faction controlling much of the party) viewpoint:

Globalization: The idea that other nations are automatically more qualified to tell us what to do than we are to decide for ourselves. That the proper negotiating position of America is on her knees. Actually, that the proper permanent position of America is on her knees.

Founded on the belief that in any conflict, economic, political, or military, between the United States and some other nation or entity, the U.S. should be assumed to be in the wrong. In prominent Leftist personalites, I have seen no exceptions to this rule.

Environmental protection: Used to be a very reasonable idea that human activity should not cause permanent damage to the environment.

Now it apparently means that any human activity at all that changes things is bad, that change itself is bad, and that humans in general are a blight on the Earth by their very existence.

Dismantling corporations: Capitalism is evil. Period. The average CEO spends his nights trying to think of ways to cheat, steal, treat his labor force like shit, and preferably kill all his customers with crappy products.

The Left, meanwhile, will chase the elusive will 'o the wisp of socialism until the end of time, empirical evidence be damned.

Tax increases for public works: Buying votes with someone else's money. Pretty much applies to most government programs.

Micromanaging states from the Federal level: I agree with Mary Anne on this one. I see both parties grinding big axes in this department. Tell Bush to leave gay marriage to the states. Tell the Democrats to get out of my life everywhere else.

Socialized Medicine: increasing the utter dependence of the citizen on the State. When elected officials control your medical care, they control you. Unless you somehow believe that this program, unlike all others ever created by the government, will magically remain forever beyond political corruption and the influence of big money from private interests that would like to become a permanent part of the public program.

That such a program for three hundred million people would annihilate the economy and Federal budget seems to bother nobody. "Somehow" is the magic word for leftists.

It would be great if I didn't have to worry about major medical expenses. It would also be great if I didn't have to worry about the mortgage, the cars breaking down, losing a contract, the price of gasoline, food, or anything else that's part of human existence in America.

It would also be great if I could bend over and Krugerrands would fly out of my ass like machine gun bullets.

Why medical care is the one human necessity of life that the Left feels absolutely must be provided by a State monopoly is beyond me. Unless, of course, we go by my dependence theory, in which case it makes perfect sense.

Social Security: See previous "utter dependence" statement. It's painfully obvious that a lot of politicians do not want citizens to own their own retirement, not even a little bit. It's revealing that they are a lot more hostile to workable solutions than they are to the fantastic ones.

The only way to fix this is to give the young more choice what to do with their money, and realize that we are all therefore going to take a general tax hit to keep the old, who have no choice, in checks. There's a large lump that's going to have to work its way through the boa constrictor in this process, and it's going to be politically unpopular. It also requires everyone to accept that Social Security is, in fact, a welfare program, and that like any other welfare program, taxpayers are going to have to accept that they are dumping their own money into it and are not going to see it come back.

Years from now, when privatization is more the rule than the exception, maybe the sacrifices will be appreciated.

Gender and sexual "equalization." Mary Anne assumed this meant "before the law," in which case it is a good thing. The Left sees this equalization as metaphysical. For example, that there is absolutely no difference between a mother and a father raising a child together, or a lesbian or gay couple.

Quotas: The belief that a person's skin color overrides everything else about their existence, and needs to be taken into account when dealing with them. There seem to be few people more obsessed about race than leftists.