Liberal disgust for our party has become quite a no-brainer.  Under its oversized umbrella, the Donkey's wide straddle from the people's republic of Vermont to Landrieu's McCain-voting constituency is becoming an increasingly uglier balancing act to contemplate from down below amid the grassroots.  The pretzel-like contortions in which our Republicratic party must engage to hold its lukewarm coalition together in order to push any sort of policy must surely be a source of amusement to the defeated, yet ever more cohesive, wingnuts.  Meanwhile, disgusted liberals justifiably seek to bolt but are reminded by sanctimoniously odious centrists like myself of the self-defeating evil-breeding consequences of Naderism which only hands power over to the lunatic fringe.  The extremists are still powerful because even as the GOP loses moderates and influence, their party becomes more radicalized while the Democratic party grows into decreasingly effective, tepid majorities.

Meanwhile, the extreme right continues to engage in the hijacking of our institutions by controlling the base of the Republican party and thus controlling important strategic positions such as our schoolboards and by engaging in propaganda aimed at the wobbly center to which the Democrats are hostage.  It is clear that we are hijacked by them, and they operate unfettered by us.  So here is my proposal to the sizeable disgusted liberal faction of the Democratic party.  If you have already vowed to stay home rather than again support the Dems, forget the Greens and the Socialist third parties.  Instead, do something which would shift the nation's center.  Water down the Republican party.  Register as Republicans.  Vote in numbers in Republican primaries.  Let the Fundies know exactly who's coming for dinner.  Dilute the bejeezus out of the Religious Right's disproportionate influence on the GOP platform.  Shift the Republican party to the left.  Reclaim the party from Nixon, Reagan and Palin in order to return it to Lincoln, and thus allow the entire national political center to shift.

In my view this would be a win-win strategy for Liberals who already feel that the Democratic party is a total waste of time.  Political results will not be immediate, but the de-radicalization of the GOP would definitely change the political landscape significantly more than any third party ever will in the absence of a parliamentary system.  In addition, there are short term satisfactions to be enjoyed as the liberals register and potentially outnumber the radicals in many constituencies.  I am referring to the look on the the gun nut's face when the dirty effing hippies show up to vote in their primaries and caucuses, challenging the hate platforms, and ousting the flat earth school boards.  If enough lefties show up, the rightwing extremists will be the ones pouting and leaving to form third parties just in order not to coalesce with supporters of marriage equality, choice, and single payer healthcare.  Now that is change in which any Liberal can believe.