I've, and most of us who have been here for quite sometime realize one thing........

[Tom Rinaldo]

144. I've been here since 2003 myself

I've seen how divided DU becomes during contentious presidential primary seasons, and I've seen how the DU community typically mends those divisions in the months that follow. Whatever one thinks of the two most recent Democratic Party Presidential nomination finalists, each won well over ten million Democratic primary votes; Hillary Clinton winning 16,914,722 popular votes, Bernie Sanders winning 13,206,428. While Clinton was the clear victor, Sanders was far from being a fringe candidate.I have never before such consistently little concern shown here about ensuring that all our Democratic voters feel welcome and appreciated by this community in the wake of any bruising primary season. Our unity going forward is critical to future successes, I am not focused on the last primary, rather on winning future general elections.

I note that your OP discusses dynamics that took place during the last presidential campaign and assigns blame for the results of it based on ideological differences you believe existed at that time. There are always shades of opinions within any major political party. Whatever you might think of those who voted in support of the loser of the last primary, we are still politically active, and our votes are still, for the overwhelming percent of those 13,206,428 voters, a part of the Democratic Party going forward- at least until any efforts succeed in alienating many of us from continued participation in the Democratic Party. My home has long been within the Democratic Party, but sometimes it seems as if some would rather that voters like me abandoned it for the Greens or some other third party that could form in the future.

I, like millions of others who voted for a losing candidate during the Democratic primaries and then voted for our nominee during the General elections, still hold the same political views that I always have. I am on the left and I am progressive on both social and economic issues. I do not regret my primary vote in the slightest, nor do millions more of us. Do you really want us in the Democratic coalition? Scapegoating the left can have unintended consequences. Ive been at this a long time. I can be demonized, I can be ignored, but I will still fight for my values within the Democratic Party. But the 2016 election saw some sharp generational divides forming. I think it dangerous for our Party if we alienate younger generations of voters who often hold views a bit more leftist on a range of issues.