I'm on board with Webster's definition of the term, liberal: 'manifesting a free and generous heart; exhibiting an enlightened mind; free from narrowness, bigotry or bondage to authority or creed'...less so as practiced by the Democratic Party of the recent past. The liberal/progressive distinction as represented by the respective candidacies of Clinton and Sanders clearly illustrated the widening gap between the two categories. To remain viable, the Democrats must close this divide by embracing the millions of young voices who were ignored by the party establishment in 2016, turn away from the neo-conservative practice of foreign interventionism, renew its focus on protection, preservation and sustainability of the environment, and redefine their relationship with corporate America by severing its dependency on same for its life's blood.
It would be a fatal mistake for the Democratic Party to simply wait for the likely implosion of the Trump regime and then retreat to a default position of reiterating the tired and failed policies they presented during last year's election cycle. To do so would be turning a deaf ear to the unmistakable call to reevaluate the basic assumptions upon which the party has based its platform in recent years. The Sanders' candidacy was a helpful beginning and signaled the direction forward into a new and truly progressive era where liberalism is restated as a term more reflective of the actual will of an active and engaged electorate.
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