Ad hominem attacks do nothing to discuss the substantive argument. The term Progressive is not merely “intellectual horseshit” but refers to a stream of political objectives and actions which advance the causes of those in this country who have been left behind by the illicit machinations of those in power. Voter disenfranchisement/suppression; gerrymandering; the use of private money from the ultra-wealthy to gerry-rig elections and to buy legislators and executives; the use of bogus election-challenging lawsuits; these, and many more, are tools that the right-wing plutocrats use to keep “average and ordinary” people out of the political system.

Now, you suggest that if people were smarter and more willing to be active citizens we wouldn’t need any of the reforms I suggested. Permit me to disabuse you of this absurd notion. The reforms I mentioned are only the first steps to equalizing the political playing field.

We would then need citizens to hold their elected officials to account. We would need education, national service programs, and effective leadership in many other areas where citizens would then see the benefits of being actively involved in their society.

I saw nothing of those suggestions in your comments other than the notion that you and others wrote to your state legislators and got them out of the gerrymandering business. Good for you. Perhaps I’ll see you organizing citizens groups to help fight our part in creating the global climate emergency….