King Prout: Thanks for the thought provoking ping.
I've read and the author has many salient points. So let's go to my favorite questions to ponder.
Question 1: Do you like what you see of the Democratic party circa 2004?
Question 2: (Solely for the sake of discussion, let's imagine that I already agree with the author on all of his 12 points.) How do you change the Democratic party that represents 30-40%+ of the population?
1. No. I believe the current state of the Democrat Party to be nothing short of a disaster. It is bad for Dems, and it is bad for Republicans as well - Having a disloyal and vile opposition creates an opportunity for the GOP to slide into disgusting habits of its own.
2. I "change" that party one person at a time, through long-term interaction and rational discussion.
more broadly, the best way to change the Democrat Party is to kick its legs out - getting substantial numbers of their "core constituencies" to at least think about their blind devotion and evaluate their options is a start in that direction.