Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

From my perspective, it's way too early to even think about electoral strategies. Our biggest problem is that since Reagan, the Democrats have allowed the Republicans to define the narrative and the objectives -- and then have at most offered a slightly kinder, gentler vision of the same thing.

It's as if we really believe that cutting welfare benefits will put more people back to work -- while giving financial incentives to the wealthy will encourage them to work harder.

Not only does that have to stop now, but we need to speak up about it at every opportunity and call out mainstream Dems who go along with the GOP line.

If the GOP wants to slash food stamps by $40 billion, we shouldn't be arguing to slash only $9 billion. We should be standing up and saying that the economy is still sluggish, that every dollar spent on food stamps puts nearly $2 back in the economy, and that cutting them takes money out of the pockets of hard-working American who will find their businesses without customers.

We should be promoting the idea that government exists to do what private enterprise either can't or won't do -- from researching diseases that mainly affect poor people to bringing high-speed internet to the inner cities and rural areas -- and that crippling its ability to do these things diminishes everyone's quality of life.

And we should be hammering that point home wherever and however we can.