I still remember the so-called Greatest Generation and Silent Generation falling in love with Reagan, combined with Baby Boomer hedonistic indifference, resultng in liberal Democrats getting ripped to shreds at the ballot box. As an adapt-or-die reaction to Bernie-style Democrats getting electorally decimated in the 80s and 90s, the Democratic Party shifted to the center... and republicans got batshit insane with AM radio and 24-hour propaganda television.

Recent history has showed me in real time how it takes several elections to smash something down... or build something up. Yet there are too many people who seem to believe that one single election is a magic wand that can cure every goddamned evil in politics and society. And if they don't get what they want, they don't vote again, or they tune out entirely - "there were elections? I didn't notice" - constantly putting Democrats in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

Case in point of Democrats getting bold: LBJ signing the Civil Rights Act into law, and the country got Nixon twice. Democrats lost the entire south electorally for generations, to this day and beyond.

Also, Democrats have to deal with hysterical and/or opportunistic right wing shitheads who abuse their power to sabotage every policy proposal, or even the normal functioning of the government at every level, pointless government shutdowns that paralyze the entire apparatus, including day-to-day essentials like teachers and park rangers.
Fascist bastards who enjoy flirting with visions of dictatorship... as long as they're the dictator. Who are constantly looking for ways to subvert democracy. Nixon, Cheney, the orange intestinal parasite.

This is the math Democrat politicians have to work with whenever making a far-reaching decision.

Complicating the hellish job even further, there's all those fickle, cherry-picking oh-so-pure voters who demand being catered to instantly and get their "knowledge" from twitter, a noisy drag on the equation.

Since the 90s, the right wing bastards have perfected the dark art of exploiting 24-hour mass media to keep people rabidly ignorant, to divide and conquer with a "politics for idiots" mantra that bOtH pArTiEs ArE tHe SaMe LoL aMiRiTe.

I saw it all happen in real time.