1972 Democratic Party Platform is so progressive as to be off the scale today

[Uponthegears]

73. A thank you for all of our Third Way friends

For a number of months now, we have been debating whether our nominee is a progressive or whether she is the candidate running on a platform which gives us the best chance of taking control of not just the White House, but also possibly even both chambers of Congress.

(Before turning to the answer to that question, let me first say that whether one prefers "progressivism" or "Democratic control," your values are, at least for this poster, beyond question. Aspirations and principles are doubtless noble things, but they are just "things" if you don't have the power to enact them.)

The responses to this OP have settled this debate. Not a single poster has argued that "liberal-ness" of the 2016 Democratic Platform is on the same continent, much less the same ballpark, as the 1972 Democratic Platform. In addition, not a single poster has argued that any item in the 1972 Democratic Platform does not reflect what should be a policy of the Democratic Party. Instead, poster after poster has pointed to the Electoral College drubbing received by Senator McGovern and argued that liberalism is the path to defeat.

(Aside: If GOPers had taken that same attitude following the Electoral College drubbing administered to Barry Goldwater in 1964, we would have never seen the 20 years of Reagan/Bush oppression through which we all suffered, and their 2016 candidate would have been closer to Colin Powell than Attila the Hun. But the fact is that the transformation of the Republican Party into a lynch mob while still maintaining political power took time and we don't have time.)

I can accept the argument that Hillary Clinton is a dynamic candidate espousing a platform (which is not in any way, shape or form hostile to liberal values, even if it does not espouse liberal values) that will almost certainly lead the Democratic Party to perhaps a historically-large victory. That is reason enough for me to work and vote to see to it that is exactly what happens.

But, can we at least stop calling the 2016 Democratic Platform "progressive" for doing no more than seeking to prevent us from regressing?