Como reconstruir o Partido Democrata?

A reconstrução do Partido Democrata, depois da deriva esquerdista que o conduziu a uma desastrosa série de derrotas nos últimos anos, deveria passar por um regresso às suas raízes jefforsonianas e de defesa do governo limitado e dos direitos individuais.

Infelizmente (ou felizmente para quem se reveja no actual GOP...), Terry Michael parece ser uma voz relativamente isolada num partido em que Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton e Michael Moore são vistos como modelos do que a esquerda moderna deve ser.

Rebuilding the Democratic Party brand - Back to the future with a return to liberalism's Jeffersonian roots

Born in the agrarian era of its founder, Thomas Jefferson, the Democratic Party's original story was of a small central government serving self-sufficient "little people" (farmers, shop keepers, frontiersmen), prizing and preserving individual liberty -- juxtaposed against the elitist federalists, and their monarchical, big central government ambition.

(...)

Believe what you will about each message -- the Republican story has clarity going for it. The Democratic narrative sounds like a John Kerry speech -- a little of this, a little of that.

(...)

We need a new story. Here's rough cut: "Government: Assure liberty by staying as far away as possible from our bank accounts, our bedrooms and our bodies. Spread pluralistic democracy and free markets by example, not by force. Restore the moral authority of the mid-20th century civil rights movement, by fashioning public policy around individuals, not tribal identity groups."