lbj knew exactly what was going to happen when he went all in on civil rights, and instead of rising to the challenge, we keep retreating from it, despite the party having its proudest and most resonant moments when it embraces the left.

i get the sense sometimes that quite a few democrats today, if they could go back in time, would have asked the party of the mid-60s to ease up.

maybe aiming for a shrinking middle that keeps sliding to the right and just out of their grasp isn't an electorally sound strategy.

if more people in the party had been doing the work of taking strong stands against income inequality/racism/misogyny/other forms of discrimination/environmental devastation, there wouldn't be so many out there that are ideologically vulnerable to tea party populism or trumpism. but because the party is always leading from behind, too many people still see those as fringe issues.

https://newrepublic.com/article/130737/democrats-still-dont-get-george-mcgovern