Where's the party?

Politically I'm basically a centrist, whatever that *really* means. I've voted Democrat almost forever and certainly don't appreciate the totality of the Republican/conservative/Neocon agenda, but the overall "platform" and approach of the Democratic party leaves much to be desired.

First, they're too preachy, and second and most importantly, they're out of power.

If they want to 1) get back into power, and 2) have the support of the overwhelming majority of American citizens, they need to change and they need to do it fast.

My view is that the Democratic Party needs a platform that appeals to what I call the "Center 60", the center 60% of American voters. 20% of the diehard ultra-right-wingers are beyond hope, but people out at the 60-80th percentile are actually fairly reasonable people who just don't happen to agree with 100% of the 0-20 percentile ultra-left-wingers.

If liberals come up with a plan that appeals to the "Center 60-80", they can probably drag the 0-20th percentile holdouts and the fact that the 81-100 percentile ultra-conservatives are out in the cold will be just fine.

Be clear, trying to win only 51% of the vote or 50.00001% or even 60% is a non-starter if you want to enact an agenda that will truly pass the tests of time and the vagaries of politics.

-- Jack Krupansky