Progressives storm Democratic primaries

[Sophia4]

42. Again, the candidate who chooses to run is responsible for creating a campaign

that deals with all the issues you raised in your post.

It's up to the candidate to bring opposing parties with his or her Party together after a primary. That's the way democracy works.

The primary is a chance to listen, debate, discuss, oppose.

The ultimate campaign is the opportunity to resolve disputes, bring people together, assure dissenters and unite.

A good candidate does unite members of the Party.

The winner is supposed to do that. The loser of a primary does not have the ability, the authority or the responsibility for uniting the Party. That is the job of the winner.

Somehow, Trump appears to have united the Republicans -- at least for the moment. But Trump insults, is mean and nasty. That gives us Democrats an opportunity to reach out and show what it means for our country when we are embracing, inclusive, kind and caring. And all this talk about purity and those who did not vote for Hillary is very counterproductive.

I'm sorry to say that. But if we want to attract voters who did not vote for us in 2016, and we must if we are to win in 2018 and 2020, then we have to forget the bitterness and reach out and include people who did not vote in 2016 or who voted for other candidates in 2016.

All the talk about them v. us is counterproductive. It will not win elections. And excluding challengers from the primary process also will not win elections. We need candidates who are genuinely gracious and inclusive and bigger in their hearts than the differences between us. We need candidates who are truly moved by their dedication to our country and to finding what is best for our country. We need candidates who work well with other Democrats, and that means working well with people whose opinions are not always the same as the candidate him- or herself.

We need to be much more inclusive of people with various opinions.

I remember when I was in college. Being gay or lesbian, the terms used then, was something people hid. It was not acceptable. It was so difficult for those who simply were gay or lesbian. It would have been difficult for the Democratic Party at that time to speak out clearly in favor of equal rights for gays and lesbians. But a movement began, and over time, being gay or lesbian has become acceptable. Time and activism can change opinions and the law in our nation. Primary challenges and other manifestations of that difficult thing, disagreement, are a part of the growth of ideas and the spread of ideas in our country.

Saying others are purists, saying that new ideas or contrary ideas are not to be allowed or heard or ultimately accepted????? Let's leave that to the conservatives. Let's leave that attitude of exclusion and "don't interrupt me with your primary challenge" to the Republicans.

We are better than that. We are liberal. We accept new ideas, challenges and new people. Let's take the primary challenges as an opportunity to hear new ideas, to see if maybe they are good or bad. What other opportunity is there for a person who feels or believes that he or she would make a better representative or governor, or other person serving in public office to learn how to run a campaign, how to win, how to reach voters, what issues work and what don't?

Of course we need primary challengers. They foment the very excitement and love of country and our Party that keeps us alive.

This program to discourage primary challengers arises from fear and the desire to dominate at all costs. Let's be open and embracing and loving and what the Democratic Party stands for -- being liberal and learning new things.

I just don't understand the exclusivity at all.

I hope I do not personally offend anyone. But I feel very strongly that the Democratic Party should be and, when it has succeeded has been, the part of inclusion. We were the first Party to nominate and African-American for the presidency. He won. If we can do that, we can be the Party that is open to all kinds of new ideas -- to the future.

That is what we should aim for.

I am tired of being depressed and anxious because we lost in 2016. We have to breathe deeply and enjoy fighting our fight.

The Tea Party breathed new life into the Republican Party. Sadly. The Tea Party is a bunch of losers basically -- living in a world of their imagination that never existed and cannot exist. But they were a challenge and made the tired old, idea-free Republican Party seem alive. And a lot of voters, the majority in too many parts of the country, bought the lies of the Tea Party and are now voting for Republicans.

We need a movement that revitalizes our Party and our nation -- but in a positive way. And we won't have that movement unless we go with change. I'm not trying to say what direction the change should take. That's up to the majority of the voters. I'm just saying we should open ourselves and our Party up to new ideas, ideas we might think are too this direction or that, but that revitalize us.

Let's give it a try. Let's allow challenges in our primaries. Let's even encourage them. A few new ideas wouldn't hurt us at all.