Reply #71: The Democratic party is

[PatSeg]

what we allowed it to become. I agree that we need to stick with the Dems if we hope to undo any of the damage that the republicans have done. I am quite sure that I am not the only person on this board who was politically apathetic prior to 2001. After Vietnam, Nixon, and Watergate, many of us baby boomers drifted away from politics. The past few years I've witnessed a renewed (sometimes "new") interest in politics and government. It feels like people are waking up from a long slumber and it took an outrageously criminal administration to make that happen (hopefully not too late).

Supporting the Democrats does not mean "settling for the lesser of two evils". We have the power to make it the party we desire by holding them accountable and voting out the ones who refuse to listen. I think it is more feasible to renovate the party we have, rather than start from scratch, which we don't have the time to do anyway. Right now we don't have the luxury of voting for a particular ideal or principle (Nader? Green party?). We don't have to always agree with one another, but we do need to be unified, persistent, and focused.

I think things had to get really, really rotten, so that we'll never forget and hopefully our children and grandchildren won't forget what can happen when people quit paying attention to their government and elected officials. They have done what WE let them do and only we can undo it. I am optimistic that we can, but not always optimistic that we will.