Five major issues that continue to be glaring weaknesses for the Democratic Party

• 1. Abortion. Why? Because it divides us as a people more than any other issue. Most Democratic politicians stumble all over themselves when the issue comes up. If for no other reason that it is the foundation issue for the conservative base, abortion is the single most influential social issue of our time.


• 2. Taxation. The truth is, most Democrats believe the country must raise taxes to address the country's biggest challenges, yet they lose votes whenever they acknowledge it in public. It's a Catch 22. There is bipartisan contempt for higher taxes. Decades ago, cunning political strategists worked to corrupt the concept of taxation and from within the government deliberately sought to undermine the very notion of government itself. They succeeded. Ever since then "taxes" has become a dirty word.


• 3. Iraq. Anyone who thinks America can/should withdraw every US soldier out of Iraq immediately fails to understand what's now at stake -- this, according to most of the Democrats in Congress. Unfortunately, the Democratic base disagrees and has long called for immediate withdrawal.


• 4. Iran. The far left doesn't consider Iran to be a serious threat and feels that any international crisis over Iran's nuclear aspirations or involvement in Iraq are entirely manufactured by the Bush administration in its push to start another war. Unfortunately for the left, most Congressional Democrats disagree.


• 5. War and peace. As a rule, the far left is always against U.S. military involvement anywhere in the world. Politically, this is a problem for the Democratic Party, which is generally more hawkish than the left wing.

• November 06, 2007