Like many DU'ers, there is nothing i would like to see more than a unified, effective Democratic Party committed to making the very real and very significant changes the country so desperately requires. Those who are furious at the party for the last disgrace on the Iraq funding bill are not "party haters". We hate what the Dems did and we hate what they are failing to do.

Unlike many of the blind party loyalists, I do not accept the "we don't have the votes" argument. I totally blame the party for not putting forward a meaningful progressive agenda.

Here's the major point: You need to separate the legislative process from the "platform" process. I'm not naive enough to argue that Congressional Dems could pass meaningful campaign finance reform to take big money out of the electoral process. It's probably not even worth trying to bring such a bill to the floor at this time. It would have zero chance of passing and zero chance of surviving a veto.

HOWEVER, and this is where the party is totally failing us, why isn't this one of the major topics being talked about by every Democrat? Passing legislation doesn't start in the Congress; it starts with the American people. If the Party really wanted to make this critically needed reform, they would be raising the issue every chance they got. They aren't. Have you heard any Democrat, save one or two perhaps, even discussing the issue? I haven't.

The problem with the party is NOT about which bill they pass; it's about the party's message to the American people. You don't need a veto proof majority to put out a message. Do I think the MSM is a problem? Of course it is but Democrats get plenty of news coverage and appear on many of the talk shows. Do you hear them talking about there being too much money in the electoral process? I don't. And the few who do certainly are not elevating it to a top issue.

Consider defense spending. Democrats are terrified about being "McGovernized". God forbid we get painted as being "weak on defense". Spending on wasteful programs while America's infrastructure declines, educational competitiveness declines, health care declines, retirement security declines and on and on, is NOT being "tough on defense." It is supporting CORPORATISM. There's gold in them thar hills and the Democrats are being spoon-fed and coddled by K Street.

Could Democrats pass a bill to cut the military budget a sufficient amount to pay for real health care for every American? Probably not. That's the argument some use as a justification. They just don't have the votes. But it's NOT at all clear they would support any such trade-off. That stinks. What's the point of protecting the country from some mythical invasion force if Americans are dying because they can't afford medical care? Democrats? All I hear is crickets ...

Consider global warming. What are the Democrats offering? If global warming could really threaten all life on the planet or cause the permanent evacuation of major coastal cities or cause severe breaks in the "food chain" or cause all life in the oceans to die, maybe we need more than "incrementalism". It seems to me we have to throw "everything we possibly can" at the problem. Again, what are the Democrats offering? They're calling for very marginal increases in CAFE standards. Well, that's nice. They're calling for very moderate increases in the use of renewable energy sources. That's nice too. What they're not calling for, and it is CRAZY, is real conservation and significant changes in our lifestyles. Could it be that would be politically risky? What if the right thing to do is to call for a 50% reduction in auto use? What if mandatory programs were called for to require employers to reduce "commuting time"? What if we again cut the military budget and transferred some serious money into funding a real mass transit system instead of the current "Lionel" toys we have running (when they run)?

Again, could the Democrats get all this environmental stuff passed right now? Of course not. Should they at least be talking to the American people about it? Your damned straight they should be!! But they're not ...

The party's left wing couldn't be angrier with mainstream Democrats. The choices confronting us right now transcend mundane legislative considerations. Perhaps you don't agree with the severity of the problems the left is citing: 1. global warming could destroy all life on earth in the next few decades and. 2. big money has totally poisoned any semblance of democracy in this country.

The left wants to save the planet and the left wants to restore democracy in this country with a second American revolution (hopefully peaceful) that overthrows the ravages of the corporate state. We want OUR PARTY to lead the way in these efforts. Instead, what we see are compromised candidates and a total failure to put these critical issues at the very top of the party's national agenda. The fact that it may be too "politically controversial" is NOT acceptable; many of us believe we no longer can afford to make that choice. Life itself very likely hangs in the balance.

At some point, if our party keeps saying NO to us, even given the horrors we've seen from republicans, we may see little choice but to refuse to "just go along." I've just about arrived at that point myself. It is NOT the way I want things to be. The Democratic Party needs to engage all of its constituencies in active dialog and negotiations if it hopes to keep the big tent intact. Should the party fail to do so, they do so at their own peril ... and ours ...