Fixation on a partisan spectrum of ideology is why the Democratic party still just does not get it. Beginning with the election of Bill Clinton, progressives and pragmatic people who still believe government can help solve problems and is not the source of problems were convinced to go along with a party that promised that if people conceded their more “liberal” ideas, eventually they would get some things done. This strategy worked to elect Bill Clinton and appeared to work to elect Obama, but was exposed as a complete failure when the majority of Americans rejected it and Hillary Clinton.

So, under these Democratic leaders, we watched Democrats go along with tough on crime policies, a massively enhanced security apparatus, and continued muddling involvement in foreign conflicts. Along the way, Democrats have claimed a mantle of progressivism over issues like the increasing acceptance of LGBT people. We even obtained “health care reform” — by adjusting expectations to a bare minimum that amounted to find a way to cover everyone with really expensive insurance.

So I agree you are right to push for a more progressive agenda, but I disagree on the whole idea of a center anymore. Pick an issue. Fight for that issue. Forget ideology. I was shocked to see in some news reports that our esteemed new eminently qualified Education Secretary (sarcasm) actually opposed Trump on the the rescinding of transgender guidance for schools…point is you can be supportive of many issues that cut across the supposed political spectrum and we need to take the allies we can get.

We need a new progressive mission, defined not by labels of right, left or center, but by what it is we want to accomplish. Progressives and Democrats are those who believe government is the public, accountable way to solve problems. Republicans believe government is an evil that puts up roadblocks to corporate profit and gets in the way of people who genuinely want to improve society on their own. Not every solution or problem will achieve consensus within a progressive coalition, but we must stop dealing away things we care about with the now disproven promise that we need to make that deal in order to win.