So what SHOULD we Democrats do?

A comment in my post about Nader voters having led to the South Dakota anti-abortion bill pointed out the inconsistency between that sentiment and the endorsement of Molly Ivins' column about having had quite enough of sellout Democrats.

And herein lies the fundamental problem for progressive voters this year: Do we continue to support candidates who seem to WANT to lose (John Kerry, Al Gore), or candidates who CANNOT win (Hillary Clinton)? Do we continue to allow the Democratic Party to get away with pushing out good candidates (Paul Hackett, Christine Cegelis) because they fall outside the party hacktocracy? Do we continue to support people like Barack Obama, who seems to have lost all his passion since going into the Senate? How do we get candidates who care, who know how to articulate the progressive ideals that most Americans support, and who can win?

I don't mind voting for candidates who lose but put up a good fight. What I can no longer do is vote for candidates who believe in nothing, who insist on running at some kind of imaginary "middle" that at this point is somewhere to the right of Barry Goldwater. What I can no longer do is support candidates like John Kerry, who refuse to understand the kind of opponents they're dealing with and think that by turning the other cheek, they're behaving with "class" and Americans will reward them. I'm tired of hearing "The American people are smarter than to believe these lies" -- because it isn't true. I'm tired of hearing "Americans don't like negative campaigns." They may not like them, but they respond to them.

The Bob Shrums and Jim Carvilles and Paul Begalas like to think that they elected Bill Clinton. They're wrong. It was Bill Clinton who elected Bill Clinton, and no one without that force of personality, who insists on running to the right, is going to get people like me out there anymore.

So let me kick it out there: What do we do? Do we continue to be good little soldiers, to say "Thank you sir, may I have another" to candidates who screw us over again and again? Or do we stay home, at the risk of helping turn this country into a fascist theocracy that much sooner?