Nobodyspecial: Don't Vote Obama -- If you want some crazy-ass far-right extremist running the U.S.

[BzaDem]

70. I highly doubt the Democratic party worries about people voting against the party from the left.

The only remedy such a defector would have would be to move the country significantly to the right. Since that remedy is irrational (if one's goal is to move the country to the left), the vast majority won't do it. And for the small group that does, the consequences of that action will change their minds next time around (as after 2000). The politicians who lose an occasional elections because of this aren't really hurt (they end up getting multiple times the salary they were making before, in the private sector). The people that are hurt are the ones who take the action that elects the Republican -- not the former Democratic politicians.

That does not mean the Democratic party ignores liberals, or has no real principles. The composition of our house membership, for example, is more progressive than the composition of our party as a whole. Many such officials are liberals. It does mean, however, that elected officials do realize that winning is a prerequisite to moving the country to the left, and this means that most officials will attempt to win the median available voter in their district. There is really nothing someone on the left (or right, for the Republican party) can do about this in a general election -- voting against their party just moves the median available voter that much closer to the center. The only action that might actually work is to convince a majority of the primary electorate to nominate someone else.