We need ideological purity in the democratic party. I know this sounds crazy to most of you, but please let me explain...
Since the 1980s, the republican party has gotten more and more extreme. They used to be much more reasonable than they are now. The teabaggers would have been the lunatic fringe in the past. Now, they are the base of the republican party.
This shift to the right started with Reagan, and has only gotten worse since then. The republican party becomes more and more insane every year. They are purging all the sane republicans out of the party.
Where do you think these republicans go, after they are purged from the republican party? They join the democratic party. The moderate republicans of the past are the blue dogs and Wall Street democrats of today.
The effect of this has been to make both parties more conservative. And that has made it nearly impossible for the democrats to pass progressive legislation.
When democrats are unable to pass progressive laws, the left-wing base becomes demoralized. When they are unable to get unified behind a progressive agenda, the republicans end up controlling the government and dominating the public discourse.
They are unable to do those things because of the blue dogs and moderate democrats.
Think of a tug of war between left and right. This is the PR battle waged by the two parties. Whoever is able to pull hardest is going to be able to control the government and influence the minds of the public.
The republicans already have an advantage here. First, because they have a powerful propaganda machine which influences the news media, in the form of talk radio, Fox News, right-wing newspapers, right-wing blogs, think tanks, etc. Second, because the media is controlled by large corporations, which are naturally in favor of the right-wing economic agenda. And third, because they have an advantage in fund raising, because they have no problem taking corporate money.
Now, let's add the blue dogs into the mix. Whenever the democrats try to pass progressive reforms, the blue dogs switch sides. They pull toward the right instead of the left.
Republicans are always pulling to the right. But the democrats don't always pull to the left, because of these right-wing democrats. This means that the country usually moves to the right.
Republicans are always pulling things rightward. No matter if they are in power or not. On the other hand, democrats only pull left when they are out of power. When they are in power, blue dogs and republicans join together and hold the rope in place until republicans regain control and start moving right again.
Do you see the problem here? As long as there is a highly motivated, unified, ideological pure republican party on one side, and the big tent democrats on the other, the country will get more and more conservative!
You would think that the republican's extremism would alienate independent voters, but that doesn't seem to be happening. The republicans aren't scaring independents off. They are influencing them:
GOP Takes Unprecedented 10-Point Lead on Generic Ballot
Americans Give GOP Edge on Most Election Issues
I think that the only way to fix this problem, is to somehow force the moderate democrats over to the republican party. That would make republicans more moderate, and the democrats more progressive. If the democrats were more progressive, they could pass better bills. And if they did that, people would benefit from those bills, and they would have very good reasons to vote for the democrats.
For example, don't you think that people would like single payer better than forced, subsidized, private insurance? I do. But it's politically impossible to pass single payer, because of the republicans and blue dogs. That hurts the democrats. But it hurts progressives a lot more. We have very little power to influence policy, when there are so many moderates in the party.
So, I think purging moderates from the party might actually be a good idea. At least over the long term. In the short term, it would hurt us, because it would make it easier for republicans to win.
But that might be the price we have to pay to make progress. This country needs progressive policies very badly. I honestly think that they are the only thing which can fix our problems. Problems like climate change and the destruction of the middle class. I don't think those problems will ever get fixed, unless the blue dogs and corporate democrats are kicked out of the party.