But we have a challenge, because criticism isn't enough.
What I've discovered after doing progressive talk radio for nearly 20 years, is that most people who want to gratuitously trash the Democratic Party falsely believe that there's an easy alternative.
But there isn't.
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Most think the Greens or some other third-party can someday win and thus elevate progressive values. While they can be a significant and positive force at the local level and have brought instant runoff voting to over 300 municipalities, at the congressional and presidential level they generally pull votes away from Democrats and overall reduce the power of the left.
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Some think if they can just "tear down the system" by breaking windows, setting fires, or engaging in massive strikes (that never happen), a thousand flowers of democracy will bloom. Sometimes such things are triggers for change - witness the Boston Tea Party - but more often they simply alienate locals and give conservatives a handy villain to complain about.
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Others are convinced we just need to loudly criticize any Democrat (or ally) who's not sufficiently pure, and they'll all fall right into line. That "yelling on social media" can be satisfying (and sometimes slightly alters politicians' behavior on specific issues), but most often just provides an excuse to avoid the hard work of infiltrating and taking over a party and/or running for political office.
This is not to say I'm not a big fan of public accountability. Locally, for two election cycles in a row (for example), I've tried to help rid Oregon of a "corporate problem solver" Democrat, Kurt Schrader, who regularly tries to sabotage progressive programs as simple and elementary as letting Medicare negotiate drug prices.
Some of my colleagues have made holding Democrats accountable a regular part of their beat. I salute and often quote their efforts, like The Lever critique of Biden continuing Trump's support for corrupt and predatory for-profit colleges.
And sometimes it makes a difference: Schrader announced this week that he's no longer going to take contributions from Koch.
I still prefer his progressive primary challenger Jamie McLeod-Skinner. As do FOUR local Oregon Democratic county Parties where progressives have done the hard work to get inside and now have actual political power.
Democrats can and do change when enough progressives get involved.
But what, some say, of the "bad Democrats" like Manchin and Sinema? Shouldn't the Democratic Party purge itself of them right away?
Years ago, a political consultant here in Portland gave me a much-needed lesson in politics 101.
"The single most important vote a member of the House or Senate casts," Kari Chisholm told me, "is their first vote. The vote for who's going to lead the legislature."
In other words, if we were to purge Sinema or Manchin from the Party today, leadership of the Senate would shift from Democrat Chuck Schumer to Republican Mitch McConnell. And, while Schumer's no progressive superstar, that wouldn't be good for anybody except the billionaires and Russian oligarchs who own McConnell and the GOP.
So what do we do?
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