"Incremental change" is a Third Way lie.

[BainsBane]

52. You think a revolution is more likely than a constitutional amendment?

Perhaps it isn't possible, or maybe it's a heavy lift. But I can tell you that electing a president, any president, is not going to alter society in the way some seem to imagine. And you are quite right that new SCOTUS appointments over time is a more likely scenario, but that of course is incremental, and the OP wants rapid change. Not that a constitutional amendment would be rapid change, but it is something people could work for. I'm really not sure what change they imagine because I don't see specifics. I was told Sanders would enact "income redistribution." It turned out addressing poverty, that member thought, was taken care of by funding food stamps, which I thought every Democrat including DLCers supported. If the change they want is not structural, then of course it's easier to accomplish.

At the national level, I don't have other suggestions. My suggestion would be to work locally like we do in MN, for increases in min wage, workers rights, etc... It is hardest to enact change at the national level. I think vesting so much in the presidency is dangerous because it creates the illusion that it constitutes transformative change, when in reality a president is limited in what he can do by the other two branches of government. I think the Obama administration has been a demonstration in just that, but some think the problem is that his ideas weren't liberal enough, not that he hasn't been able to get the agenda he ran on implemented. But then of course the question is what is the level of change people want to see. That I don't know. I see frustration about what they describe as a recent sell out by the party to "corporations," which I see as reflective of the fact they have only recently been effected by the inherently unequal and exploitative nature of capitalism. The most I can really offer is some perspective from history and the point of view of someone who didn't grow up in the middle class. I'll always happy to get out and volunteer, canvass and do what's necessary to press for specific proposals.

I have seen none of the discussions you describe, and when I have asked specifics I haven't been given any. Merely asking HOW leads to charges of being Third Way. My impression is people seem more concerned with creating an in-crowd on DU of people who think and express themselves exactly how they think they should and not much about the country.

I don't know what you think I do or don't agree with in regard to working within the system. I wonder if you're making assumptions that may not be true.