I had an opinion piece in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Here’s the link: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20130505_A_tea_party_for_progressives.html
Here’s its basic idea. Economically, the Democratic Party has been taken over by Wall Street and other big buck interests. It’s the Party of Charlie Schumer, Erskine Bowles, Robert Rubin. et. al. Its basic difference with the present Republican Party is that it seeks to slow (a bit) the flight of wealth to the top and pain to the middle and bottom. It has no pro-middle class policies of its own. At best, its policies seek just to protect the middle class from the more rapid decline that would result from far right policies.
So what can be done about this disturbing devolution of a once great middle class protector? My proposal is explained briefly in the Inquirer piece. It involves doing a Tea Party-like progressives number, doing to the Democratic Party what the Tea Party did to the Republican Party. Taking it over from within.
If readers of this piece (and my Inquirer piece) find this notion constructive and necessary, please pass it along.