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[MrChuck]

37. The party is only the party until they're not.

I'm in my 50's. I've been a Democrat for over thirty years. I have seen greatness and I have seen massive disappointment.

We all need to be honest with ourselves and stop paying homage to a word that not only headlines this group but covers a shifting political paradigm in the mainstream consciousness.

I have no loyalty to any party. My loyalty is to principles that, historically, have been better represented by the Democratic party than others. While it's not ONLY the Democratic party that has changed over that time, the party HAS changed and not always for the better.

We have fielded candidates that were simply not positioned to win. I've watched good candidates get torpedoed by the opposition who almost always seem poised to win and will go to whatever lengths to do so. I've been proud in defeat a number of times as a result of that, knowing that my party didn't resort to "dirty pool" to achieve political victories. The question in my mind now is how we have continued to allow the opposition to get away with their chicanery and duplicitous practice.

When Bernie Sanders reminds us that he's not a Democrat and tells us that Democrats didn't accomplish much I interpret that as meaning that we don't achieve AS A PARTY the goals that are paramount in this country. I don't interpret it as an attack on individual Democrats but as a valid criticism of the effectiveness of our party's tactical execution.

Interested to hear feedback.