Four Weird Tips to Remove Wrink, er, Fix the Democratic Party

For those of you who haven't been here long or who are just stumbling on it, aside from giving us a chance to vent about the damage the Republicans are doing to  the country and the world today, we also have a positive focus -- how the Democratic Party can come back stronger from its divisions ("The Great Consolidation") after a rocky 2016.

I don't believe that the Democratic Party is particularly broken (for reasons I don't want to get into again):

But with the kind of damage the Republicans want to do to this country, we can't do enough to build and bolster the party.

 

Mark Riddle of U.S. News & World Report has four tips for how to do that (more details at the link):

• Establish and support a progressive training and strategy table.

Definitely. Representative Cheri Bustos (D-IL) just did something like that locally, with great results.

• Establish a $50,000,000 leadership fund to coordinate efforts.

• Establish a coordinating group for nontargeted races. 

Yes. Until we put money and personnel into generally funding the party and the progressive movement, we can't have nice things. And I like nice things.

• Present a unified commitment to America.

I disagree with the premise -- we had the most progressive, coherent plaform ever at the Democratic National Convention this year; and there was relative harmony over it until WikiLeaks dropped the first e-mail bomb to divide the party right as the convention was starting -- but it would be great if we could figure out how to brand and disseminate that commitment so that the press and the public pick up on it.

More of this, please!