I think voters deserve a choice: political parties should reflect different goals and ideals.  But in today’s America, party labels mean nothing. You might assume, for example, that by voting for Max Baucus and Jon Tester of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, you would be supporting the Democratic platform and President Obama’s agenda. But, once again, these senators have betrayed their party’s principles and proved themselves Republicans at heart.

Their betrayal sabotaged a decent piece of legislation – the so-called DREAM Act. The law would have given hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants a path to legal status if they enrolled in college or joined the military.

President Barack Obama called the vote “incredibly disappointing.”

“A minority of senators prevented the Senate from doing what most Americans understand is best for the country,” Obama said. “There was simply no reason not to pass this important legislation.”

No reason but the Republicans’ insistence on inflicting cruelty on the defenseless and grinding down the impoverished.

Over the past several months, I have come to expect this kind of inhumane behavior from Republicans. They apparently are proud – like other pariah movements of the past – of their ability to resist the natural instinct of compassion. By being merciless and oppressive, they seem to believe that they show strength.

But I expect politicians who call themselves Democrats to be different. I expect them to show some spark of empathy toward society’s underdogs – particularly toward those who are making every effort to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

And that’s just what the young men and women who would’ve benefited from the DREAM Act are doing.

The five “Democratic” traitors who sided with the heartless Republicans to block passage of the DREAM Act fill me with loathing.

They make me sick to my stomach.

Photos above show – clockwise – Baucus, Tester, Pryor, Hagan and Nelson.