What is a Democrat?

Reuters says that this Election Will Prompt Democratic Soul-Searching:

The Republicans have built majorities around their ideas, which can be boiled down to a few simple statements. The Democrats fish around for issues where they think there already are majorities,' said Schaller, a Democrat.

I think the real issue is that the Dems no longer know who they are. I had several *discussions* with friends about the *Anybody but Bush* attitude. This is not a stance for something, and Americans - at least a lot of us - want to know what you stand for. The waffle attack on Kerry got traction on this issue.

Oh, the Dems do stand for somethings. Unfortunately, the things you know they are for, are very much to the left of the average American.

I can see 2 options for the Dems. The first is to build majorities around these positions. This will mean they need to try to change the opinions of a lot of people about things like Gay marriage, and get those people as fired up as Republicans are on the other side of each issue. Or the Dems will have to move to the center.

I think it will be more likely that a 3rd party will emerge between to extremes of the 2 parties. A party that does not want big government to provide everything a la socialism, a party that does not want to jam religion down our throats, a party that has a live-and let-live attitude. This could be the Libertarian party, if they would adopt a reasonable attitude to the War on Terror. But given the MSM attitude toward 3rd parties, this may be impossible.