It's about numbers of votes and how to get them.

[merrily]

Wanting to believe something or repeating it endlessly does not make it so.As many times as we may say that people who refuse to vote Democratic in November or in past elections or future elections are all Republicans, it's not true.

Some people, on both the left and the right sides, draw lines strictly by party. Some people draw lines by principles or ideology, but will vote by party anyway, on a "lesser of 'two' evils theory--and that includes leftists who changed their registration from Democrat to no party affiliation because they no longer could identify as Democrats, given the rightward movement of the Democratic Party.

Those who vote by party on the right will, in November, vote for the Party's nominee, even if the nominee is a nut cake like Trump or Carson or Santorum. Others on the right, however, will not vote Republican no matter what. Some will stay home in November if they cannot deal with the prospect of, say, Trump as President, while others will vote for a so-called "third" party candidate or even for Hillary Clinton. That does not mean they were Democrats or Constitution Partiers or Libertarians or whatever all along. It means they are rightists who cannot deal with the prospect of Trump as President.

On the left are counterparts of the rightists described in the paragraph immediately above this sentence. I have no idea what people think they accomplish by denying that. In my experience, recognizing a reality is almost always preferable to denying a reality or pretending it's something else.

The real issue for Democrats is not whether these people were Republicans all along. If they were Republicans, they were; but, if they were Republicans all along, then they have been voting Republican all along. Therefore, their votes will change nothing. The real issue for Democrats is quantification of leftist votes that have been lost relatively recently or that are likely to be lost in November and/or in the future.

A vote for a Democrat is a vote for a Democrat, even if the voter feels he or she must hold his or her nose. So, people who criticize Democrats, but vote Democratic won't change anything. Therefore, the only quantifications that actually make a difference to Democrats going forward are:

1. The number of leftists who refuse to vote for certain Democrats and, as a result, either stay home or who vote for a candidate other than the Democratic candidate or who leave blank one or more slots on their ballot.

2. The number of rightist, "unenrolled" and totally as yet unregistered people who may be persuaded to vote Democratic.

Bashing either of those groups is not going to increase the number of votes for Democrats. Taking the right positions on the right issues will.

That is unlikely to happen as long as candidates are depending on lobbyist/corporate money to fund their campaigns. We HAVE to get corporate money out of politics. If everyone contributes up to a maximum of $2700, that is enough to run a competitive campaign on a level playing field.

I don't know how we get around the Citizens United case to do this, but get around it we must. (I guess the easiest and fastest way to get around the Citizens United case is not to vote for people who take corporate donations.) Then, we have to worry about equal access to voting and a fair count. The other element is media and I don't know what we do about them, given the First Amendment.