General Discussion

The Overton window has shifted so far to the right that the moderate range in the US is now occupied by the Democrats and the Republicans are off the deep end. The left side of the spectrum is largely unoccupied. Take the example of Bernie Sanders, a self-described "socialist" who is in reality no such thing. He's a Social Democrat, a middle-of-the-road FDR Democrat, of a type that is common in other western democracies. He is not radical at all! and the only way he can be seen as such is if the spectrum of political discourse has been "red-shifted".

This has happened in this country not because the country is more conservative than our counterparts--study after study has shown that when asked about specific policies, the US is center-left. I believe there's one inTime magazine right now--but because of relentless pressure from (imo) 3 sources: 1) a barrage of right-wing propaganda from hate radio and Fox and now Breitbart et al; 2) a wholly-owned corporate media that constantly pushes a pro-business pro-management anti-worker stance (think "what's good for GM is good for the country!&quot ; and 3) a Democratic Party dedicated to working with the opposition and compromising for the common good.

This has turned out to be a bad tactic since the more we compromise with Republicans, the further right they go, dragging the "middle" with them, to such extremes that they are teetering on the brink of full-blown fascism. We can't follow. In fact at this point we have to pull very hard the other way.

Martin Luther King believed that the greatest impediments to progress were moderates--the advocates of baby steps, if you will, who want slow progress that won't upset anybody too much. I think we are in a similar position. DFT won in the Rust Belt by running to Hillary's left on trade and going after fat cats/Wall St., etc. We all knew he was a liar, but they hoped he wasn't and they voted for him. Bernie was also popular in those areas. We can't give in to the idea of moderation being the way to confront a bunch of monsters. We have to face them down, attack their policies at the top of our lungs and pull the discourse window--and our country-- back to the left. We have a golden opportunity: with Trump out in front and full control of government the Republicans have pulled off their masks and displayed their malevolence for all to see. We have to oppose that.

We have to follow the people in the streets, who are progressives and liberals and socialists and ANGRY (but not full of hate). Many of them are new to politics, unaffiliated or disaffected. Many of them are Democrats but at least as many are not. If we try to corral them into our moderate, sensible, and sober party we will lose them. This s not the time for that. This is an existential threat--to the party, to the nation and even to the world. We have to turn this around, Bigly, and Right Now.