A Plan to Win

What's the matter with Democrats?
That's what Thomas Frank, author of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" asks. It's a good question. Where do we go from here? How do we pick up the pieces and move forward? Changing our core beliefs is certainly not the answer, but that seems to be the way the party is moving under current leadership.

"Having already moved to the right on economic issues, the party seems ready to don the mask of social conservatism – as in the appointment of an anti-abortion Harry Reid as the Senate Minority leader – to hold on to a sliver of power.
That's exactly the wrong strategy to beat the Republicans, says Tom Frank. The solution is not Bible-thumping but economic populism. Liberals need to respond to the faux populism of the GOP – which pits "real" working class Americans against over-educated, snotty liberals – with the real deal. Frank argues it's time for the Democratic Party to return to its roots, to rediscover its lost soul. To become once again the champion of the working class." [AlterNet]

I think it all comes down to selecting the right person at the top, Howard Dean. He started the largest grassroots organization in history, and can change the entire direction of this party. While trickle-down economics doesn't work, trickle-down leadership does.