Reply #1: We should do nothing.

[Selatius]

If the Democratic leadership feels that it should "keep its powder dry" at such a critical moment, then there really isn't much alternative except to accept what the leadership says.

We live in a two-party duopoly. There is very little chance of dis-entrenching an established political party and replacing it with a new one. You're left with a choice between a Democrat and a Republican at the ballot box. Voting for a third party will simply be cutting your own throats by the very rules of the game the people chose to play by when it ratified the US Constitution in its current form.

If neither Democratic nor Republican leaders have an answer, then there is no answer the government can offer to the people. It is then up to the people to decide whether it should let that continue or formulate an answer of their own.