Panic is the absolute wrong response to the Dems' current electoral anxiety. On the whole the Republican platform of policies is less popular, they've only gotten an edge by fearmongering and successfully demonizing, with the partial exception of Obama, every Democratic leader. The way things are going 2018 will be a bloodbath when it comes to Republican policies and the Democratic response should be to focus on promoting their policy responses emphasizing how Republican policies have directly hurt the American people. Those calling for the party to shift left are dead wrong, because we will always need to court moderate voters, and enthusiasm within the party base can be raised without alienating the key independents we need to shift to the left.
Is there reason to panic about the state of American government? Hell yeah there is, but not within the Democratic party itself. There are clear deficiencies that need to be taken care of and improvements to be made, but they will not succeed within an attitude of panic and intra-party warfare. Putting forth a unified and assertive platform from the top to the bottom of the ticket is the way forward, especially when the Republicans continue to show their true faces more with each passing day.
