My dear friend Toadfrog:
I agree with most of what you say, however I am mystified by your reflection that the Democratic party is a leftist party! Have you ever been to Europe or Scandinavia? We don't really have a leftist party, with the possible exeption of the Greens, though they tend to be not terribly politically savy, sort of knee-jerk radicals rather than the real sort of labour related party a leftist party as Labour USED to be in Britain, and is in other countries. Let's face it, to have a successful democracy we need successful news reporting, not the surface entertainment media which mascarades as news reporting in this nation. You may, or may not recall that in the Communist Manifesto Marx said that one needs to have a democratic nation in order for the prolatariot to rule, (why the USSR never was a leftist nation according posthumusly to Marx) and in order to have democracy you need free speach freedom of religion and free press. Well, this is likely part of the reason that those who run the ecconomy are wielding interference with matters of morality by the state, limiting free speach through the patriot act, and eviserating the press through comercial information networks who sell a story not the underlieing truth. Speed the day when ANY party that can win is a leftist party because (I take it you are not a plutocrat...) that day YOU fellow worker, will have a voice in government. However, the way to get there, in the past, has been to create partnerships, not to empower the right through deviding the liberals from the left (yes Verginia there IS a difference between Liberal and Left)...
Cheers
Larry