2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I am Very Disappointed with the Democratic Party [View all]apnu
(8,722 posts)Here's the danger of both.
First the hardest, going 3rd party. Doing so will split the liberal vote in America for at least a generation, while a third party gets sorted out. Look at what happened to the Wigs. During that time, the conservatives will own everything and destroy everything while they're in power. Third party considerations must weigh that risk, they must be prepared to weather that storm and it will be a storm. GWB was the tip of that iceberg, the GOP is 100% worse today than it was 7 years go.
The other option is to fix the Democratic part. Most liberals are here and they're mostly sympathetic to left causes. The brand is here and the infrastructure already exists too. All the tools are in the toolbox right now, we need only use them.
While we spend our time arguing over Bernie or Hillary at the top of the ticket we are ignoring all the down ticket races. If we're to fix the party, that's where the fixing must start.
Elect progressives to Democratic offices, run the DLC and Third Way types out of the party. Be a pain in the ass to the corrupt, moneyed, establishment members hanging around. Put the fear of god and primary challenges in them. The one thing the Tea Party did well was that.
It would take longer and it would be a grind, but I think fixing the Democratic Party is the better path than flipping the table and storming out of the room.