George Washington, in his farewell address warned against....

[WCGreen]

"...the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link the various parts."

By segmenting the population, pitting one faction against another, the Republican Party starting with Kevin Phillips "Silent Majority" Nixonian targeting and running through Reagan, the first Bush and now the disgrace that is sitting in the Oval Office, has ignored the prophetic words of our first president in order to attain personal wealth and prestige...

Sadly, we as a minority party are left to argue amongst ourselves, deciding which faction, which groups desire for a voice we should ignore in order to attain a seat at the table of governing. We are playing right into the hands of the cynically manipulative Republican Party by internally adopting a similar strategy …

There are those amongst us, as have I, who argue that the Democratic Party should focus on its long tradition of championing workers rights and strengthening the Middle Class as a means to earn that seat...

And there are those who argue, quiet rightly, that the rights of the individual should take precedence over all...

In other words, how do we balance the ideology of a Heath Shuler with that of Barney Frank? How can we embrace the agendas of both Russ Feingold and Jon Tester?

That, to me, is the crux of our internal dissension...

This is the quandary we need to solve in the coming months...

But perhaps we need to reflect that this is a dilemma that can only be meaningful to a majority party...

Let us take this opportunity to grow stronger by embracing all that is good about America and leave the divisive approach to power where it belongs; in the proverbial dustbin of history...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Your grasp of history is compelling.........

The lessons of history are there for whoever can see them........

And so few can.....

K&R

[WCGreen]

2. Ironically, I discovered that quote of Washington by

reading about the lincoln Administration...