Let's Open Up the Democratic Party to Public Participation

[LisaM]

4. It is open to public participation. I've participated in it most of my life.

No one's ever tried to stop or discourage me from doing so, so I am not sure I understand the premise of the OP. We've also historically been the open tent party, which necessarily means that the liberal and conservative wings - and everyone in the middle - respects each others' position. I've always considered myself on the liberal side, but I understand that people I know who live in places like North Carolina or Kansas face a different world around them than I do living in Seattle and that while I don't always agree with them, I need to respect the differences.

The problem with the Republican party right now is that they've completely alienated the so-called liberal wing and they're pecking away at the centrists. What do they have left? The old-school hacks like Boehner and the tea baggers. Their party is being broken apart by the absolute lack of the ability to compromise and all the warning signals are there for this to happen to the Democrats if we can't get a base that sees that we're faced a very wide range of issues and that many of them are pretty nuanced.

We live in a world of moving targets and goalposts and we need to stop being at each others' throats. Of course the Democratic party needs a breath of fresh air. Most organizations do. But it doesn't mean you scoff at and denigrate and chip away at all the people who kept it going through good times and bad over the last 50 years. That is divisive and we don't need it.