Third, the Democrats squandered the incredible outpouring of disgust with Bush that brought so many conservative and middle-of-the-road independents to their campaign. It was a splendid opportunity to lock in new members forever, but Democrats seemed stunned and made no serious effort to create permanent converts. In fact, the old-line pros saw the new guys only as cannon fodder, and made no creative use of their talents or ideas, as I found out myself when I suggested several times that Democrats should mine the anti-Bush lode, developing special appeals to integrate outraged centrists. Yes, we were glad to do phone banks and literature drops, but we could have done so much more. The Democrats remind me of the generals who, when the United States entered the World War I, wanted to take direct command of our fresh troops and use them in the same old way in trench warfare; Gen. John Pershing refused and went on to break open the battles and win the war.

Fourth, Democrats did not engage in effective damage control -- where were the "truth squads" to answer the lies and attacks, the crazy "statistics" and distortions of Republicans? I had hoped John Edwards, as a trial lawyer, would cross-examine them and develop stinging rebuttals (and still be his positive and sunny self each time he finished deconstructing them). If he could not or would not do that, then someone else should have been holding the Republicans' feet to the fire. Indeed, all those professionals who turned on Bush at some point in their careers and wrote books should have added their nasty bit. How naive everyone was -- we needed shock troops, instant-messaging Marines, a SWAT team.

Fifth, Democrats seemed to write off whole swatches of the country and whole groups of prospective voters and did not really follow through on the fantastic effort made to bring out new voters. I understand that limited resources meant limited results, but how much coddling, recontacting and repetition occurred once likely new Democratic voters were identified? While there was a lot of buzz about the use of the Internet (given Howard Dean's remarkable efforts), I did not really see any effective use of it. And the "meetups" were mostly a joke. What were they supposed to accomplish besides being a gripe session? Splendid new avenues were available to create a dynamic campaign leading to a permanently energized, forward-looking political party, and the Democrats blew it. The informal guerrilla groups (for example, Emily's List and MoveOn.org) did a better job.

So what can we do now? First and foremost, express in simple, spare terms the Democratic philosophy. Forget the New Deal interest groups. Go for general, historical principles that offer a viable, striking contrast to the Republican philosophy -- perhaps even sometimes agreeing with it here and there, but offering a short, compelling alternative vision. The vision can be elaborated as necessary, but, like our Constitution, it should embrace general principles rather than minute, soon-to-be-outdated detail. No convention party platform, please. The vision should be heavy on traditional ethics but not confuse ethics and morality with any particular religion.

Second, the Democrats need to build an organization that has a modern "TO&E" (table of organization and equipment), with paid professional staff and help at every level, just as trade associations do, and with channels for direct communication and input from the average party member. I admit I don't know exactly how the DNC is set up now, and it may be necessary to get rid of the current leadership, but something has got to change the management of the party's business. (See, for example, the first reason the Republicans won, above.)

Third, the Democrats must get unhappy traditional Republicans and centrist independents to join the party permanently, as well as grab the new young voters. (See the third reason the Democrats lost, above.) I subscribe to the Nation, American Prospect and American Conservative, and there are surprisingly many points of convergence, thanks to Bush's moving Republicans so far into reactionary zealotry -- for example, in their common reactions to the Iraq war and to the PATRIOT Act. So many Americans have been thoroughly vaccinated against "Democrat" that the party may even have to come up with a new name, something that avoids "liberal" or "progressive" or "Democrat," even if the new Democratic Party is in fact all three of these things. Put the old wine in a new bottle. After all, Bush has put his new wine in the old bottle of Republicanism, and what we now face is another one of those tectonic shifts in party alignment that we go through every so often. But hurry up -- the train is leaving the station.

Fourth, Democrats should not fall into the trap of trying to "heal the country" by going along with Bush in his second term. That will finish the party for good, and anyway, it's not statesmanlike. Be firm with wavering Democrats whom Bush might bribe, subvert or suborn on this or that issue. It may take a while, but Democrats have to be the loyal opposition, and that does mean opposition (principled, of course).

I was so disgusted with the Democrats in the 2002 election that I could not bring myself to become a Democrat until after that, and I am sure I was not the only disappointed one. We can't be a bunch of patsies again. Part of this means developing, based on the first step mentioned above, what I call Democratic "pundidiots " -- that is, talking heads who are talking from the Democratic philosophy -- and insisting they be part of the endless chattering. This is necessary even if it means immediately finding a major independent donor to buy a regular TV program to provide news, commentary and investigative reporting. And I do not mean Air America, but someplace on national television to expose Republican misdeeds and express Democrats' alternative view of the world, inasmuch as neither the House nor the Senate is going to hold hearings to expose Republican malfeasance and stupidity and the media is already too cowed to do much. The party could use this exposure to showcase rising young Democrats and give them credibility in the public eye for future campaigns.

Fifth, the Democrats must address and fix every one of the issues presented in the 10 reasons I cite for the Republicans' win and the Democrats' loss. They also need to develop some programs that will help change the ground rules. For example, let's get rid of gerrymandering by taking redistricting out of the hands of state legislatures and putting it into the hands of professional demographers. (The legislatures would still have to approve the results, of course.) This would result in more competitive races and perhaps bring voters back into the process. And they should heed other ideas that come bubbling up from the huddled masses of angry, disappointed Democrats and angry, disappointed anti-Bush and anti-zealot Republicans and independents who are depending on the Democrats to save America. The nation is fast becoming a totalitarian, one-party state (American style), and we worker bees do have lots more to say on the subject.

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