Consider this cautionary tale of over 60 years in Democratic politics.
I am surprised by the many here who didn't see the watered down HCR bill coming. Like most of us, I did have hopes that a Democratic majority in Congress would mean true reform of our failed HC system. I am however, not surprised to see what will now be hailed as a "great triumph" and is scarcely better than a continuation of our current system, rammed through the Congress.
I could go on for pages regarding my disillusionment with the Democratic Party over the decades. A Party I first was a campaign worker for at the age of 10 during the 1960 Kennedy campaign. I could talk about my conviction that too many of the parties candidates over the years have been party hacks or ineffectual and charisma deficient candidates, foisted on us by an antiquated party structure. I could talk about the sad spectacle of Clinton being regarded as a "political genius", a man devoid of character and true leadership qualities, whom I regard as a Judas of Democratic values. I watched the Party reject and dissemble at every opportunity to address the cancer at the soul of American politics, the special interests and their money, which now own our government. Lastly, I worked over 100 hours for the Obama campaign, only to see what will likely be the last opportunity in my lifetime to enact real reform of our tragically corrupt national political structure, squandered by a President who seems unable to grasp both the urgency of the time, and the singular opportunity which history had handed him.
What I want to do instead, is suggest to those of you who are young, and just beginning to get engaged in the political process, to take their youth and enthusiasm elsewhere. Don't waste your political life as I have done, telling yourself that the Democratic Party will come back to it's roots. This country can't wait for that to happen. We don't have the time. A wise man once said that it is "stunning how quickly the unthinkable can become conventional wisdom." With the economic, social and political problems our country will face in the next ten years the unthinkable will truly become reality. We need a party that can answer those problems with an agenda for the future, not further attempts to keep the tottering structure we have patched together for a few more years. That strategy might work for the rest of my life, but it will not do for you. Move on, build something fresh that can save our country before it's too late. As for me, I'm done with politics, one of the greatest disappointments of my life.