There are many, many people who feel the way he does. Look, we want (mostly) the same thing. Neither of us want oligarchy. That said, it can be reasonably argued that we've always had it, just not to this extent. But I completely agree with you that it, historically, had been the Democratic Party that mitigated some of the worst of our economic system. That all changed. When Jimmy Carter was nominated and I was working on my Democratic Party's Congressional candidate's campaign *and* Jimmy Carter's, nearly everyone I worked with lamented that the ticket wasn't reversed. We all knew that Carter was much further to the Right on a lot of issues that we cared about. But the alternatives were unthinkable (most notably Reagan as Gerald Ford could be a Democrat today).

Look at the legislation that was passed in the 1960's and tell me how much of that you think the Democratic Party today would have even suggested. VISTA, the Job Core, Headstart, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Medicare, Medicaid, the Education Act (established the first federally funded scholarships), the Open Housing Act, the Low Income Housing Bill, not to mention NASA. Can you honestly tell me the New Democratic Party would have introduced *any* of that? NASA took two Democratic Presidents, but the rest *all* happened under ONE Democratic President. That all this happened in my first decade of life obviously helped establish my view of the Democratic Party. The complete asshats that followed I can barely stomach. I know it is not the political party it used to be and so does everyone else. And when I say "everyone", I mean the people who now call themselves "Independents" or choose to sit out the process because no one is advocating for truly Democratic principles anymore. Well, okay, there was that Old Socialist Guy, but he was crazy, right?

The first half-step Right was Carter, then Bill Clinton bolted Right and took the entire party along with him. Then Obama (the assassination King) kept the pace up, betraying the people who'd swallowed his "Hope for Change" message in 2008. Acknowledging this wild Right swing over the past 40 years is the first step toward correcting it and if you think the Right's influence on the party has waned, think again. Who is it that is the DNC Chief today?

There are reasons why the Democratic Party has gone from being the party of the majority of registered voters by a margin of sometimes better than two to one, to trailing Independents by 7 percentage points. The party abandoned its core principles. I'll concede "they're still better than the other guys" but that's not saying very much. If you want people like box and me and the millions of Independents out there to support the lesser evil, the DNC better put a candidate on the ticket next time who looks, sounds and most importantly, acts like the Democrats of my childhood. These Eisenhower Republicans are not going to cut it anymore. Not for a great many of us. And that doesn't bode well for any of us.

You cannot be serious. Really? Well, you're right. Johnson didn't get "the equivalent to Obamacare" passed, he got two things vastly superior passed and I included them above. Medicare and Medicaid ring any bells? ;0)

Who do I think would be a good candidate in 2020? I honestly don't know. I've heard some grumblings about nobody being "obvious" already, but geez, man, it's four years out. I would have loved Jerry Brown but he,like Sanders, is too old now. And Jerry's drifted a little Right over the years as well, although nowhere near as far Right as the rest of the party. Some have suggested Gavin Newsom, but I don't know if I could support him or not - nothing against him, I just don't know a lot about him.

I'm coming to conclude that this whole self-government experiment is an epic failure and total disaster. 538's still got (today!) Drumpf at 39% approval. How much more evidence of the American People's inability to properly govern themselves does one need? :-\