The revolution is real. One can start listening to people or mock them and take your chances.

[mmonk]

That will be a thinking test for the party going forward.

[MineralMan]

1. Are those my only two choices?

It seems to me that there's an entire spectrum of choices beyond those.

[Armstead]

5. No there isn't another choice

That doesn't mean everyone has to walk in lockstep or agree on everything.

But it does require honest receptiveness and dialogue that doesn't demean and dismiss people as the "fringe left" and insult ideals as "ponies"

It's complex but ultimately simple.

I'm a 64 year old fart and I've seen this pattern for 30 years. It's time to break it.

[Trust Buster]

2. It will only be real when Democrats turn out the vote in elections including the midterms.

It will be real when Democratic candidates are elected in state and the federal legislature. As long as Republicans control the legislature's in 37 of 50 states and control the Senate and the House, it's all just empty talk. There are no shortcuts.

[Armstead]

6. Progressive reformers should not have to fight Democrats as well as Republicans

[haikugal]

10. Our party has had a corporate coup and is using right wing tactics...

I'm with you Armstead. Let's do this.

[CBHagman]

12. "Should not have to fight"?

The U.S. voting population is not monolithic, and neither is the Democratic Party.

Any cause requires years of commitment and work, and includes finding a workable strategy and allies. And setbacks are generally a given.

On edit: Shifts in public opinion can also play a role, although that's not always necessary for, for instance, legislative change. But first you have to have people elected to positions in which they hold enough power to bring about an agenda. So you're dealing not only with primaries but election results, the media, and the various voting blocs (and don't think you can wish those away).

[Armstead]

14. I am well aware of all that

Efforts to steer the Democratic Party away from the Corporate Wall St. straightjacket have been going on for a long time on many levels. Sanders and the millions of people who he has resonated with did not spring out of a vacuum.

One tiny example of the larger problem.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511812440

[Ron Green]

8. I don't think the "D" is enough. Candidates have to

be willing to call out the bought system, too much of which is operated by "Democrats."

[griffi94]

3. Or just ignore it til it goes away

[Codeine]

4. Take my chances?

Now I'm skrrrrrrrd.

[redstateblues]

7. Bernie's revolution is an empty bumper sticker slogan

He has no plan to win back Congress- no plan to win back State Houses. He has one colleague that backs him. He is losing the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.

[All in it together]

9. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you

Then you win, I think the saying goes.

[deathrind]

11. That choice has been made.

[Orsino]

13. That's how revolutions evolve.

First the idea of revolution is pooh-poohed, then the revolutionaries are ridiculed, then acknowledged as a threat.

At the moment, we are somewhere between steps two and three, with the veiled calls for Sanders to give up and go away being the acknowledgment that the status quo is uncomfortable.

Whether there is a step four depends on us. Lobby hard, y'all.

[mmonk]

15. Yes, a process.

[riderinthestorm]

16. Climate change means politics as we know it will be irrevocably changed

Bernie recognizes it and understands the multiple aspects that must be addressed.

Environmental protections must be implemented immediately. Global muscular leadership. No to polluting trade deals like TPP. Stop protecting the 1% and corporations - the wealth inequality is illustrative of the greed and avarice that rapes countries and communities of their resources. Endless wars that toxify every place its fought etc etc etc.

Madame President will go down as the worst president ever for her "incrementalism" and support for the status quo while she allows the planet to burn.

[demwing]

17. In like a Lamb, or in like a Lion?

The revolution has already caught fire. Who feels the heat will depend on how this primary plays out.