Where are the Democrats? "It’s urgent Democrats stop squabbling and recognize seven basic truths," says Robert Reich.

(See also: Where are the Democrats? "The Democratic Base Is Marching Right Past Its Leaders")

If you're a Floyd County resident and consider yourself in alignment with the Democratic Party, then please click through and read Reich's seven truths.

Next, consider carefully the recent history of the Floyd County Democratic Party. As currently constituted, do you think the FCDP understands these truths and is capable of doing what's needed (as Reich asks)?

If the answer is yes, the blog is yours. Make the case, explain what the FCDP will be doing, and tell us why these appearances of utter futility are deceptive.

If you feel constrained by lack of skill in writing, don't worry. I'll help you. If you're bashful about speaking openly because the party's leadership tends toward the secretive and hermetic -- well, isn't that a huge part of the problem?

In fact, I'm begging local Democrats -- any or all of them -- to explain this:

ON THE AVENUES: Jeff Gahan and Adam Dickey are Trumping the Donald when it comes to breathtaking moral turpitude. Have they no shame?

There are good people in the FCDP; unfortunately, they've been silent for too long, submerged beneath the vapid corporate surface sheen which continues to amass little more than losses. The FCDP as we know it today functions primarily as Jeff Gahan's fundraising arm -- and with all the funds raised going to Gahan, and none to the party.

If Gahan possessed Barack Obama's intellect and charisma, this might make sense, though carefully mark my words: Gahan may have won two mayoral terms, transforming him into a genius superstar in the eyes of local Democrats, but he's on course to become a tremendous liability.

Local Democrats have been almost swept clean in the county, and there are no natural successors to Gahan in the city, apart from functionaries like Pat McLaughlin and Bob Caesar, for whom wishing simply won't make it so. Now Gahan is striking deals with the likes of Coffey, not because these concessions assist his moribund political party in any coherent way, but in defense of the mayor's own campaign-finance-lockbox-driven indefensible ambitions.

As you know, I don't care a jot about the Democratic Party, although we could use an entity to function as the principled local opposition to state and national madness. If it cannot do even this, then Reich is correct. Let it be swept away, and the sooner the better.

The life of the party — 7 truths for Democrats, by Robert Reich (San Francisco Chronicle)

The ongoing contest between the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders wings of the Democratic Party continues to divide Democrats. It’s urgent Democrats stop squabbling and recognize seven basic truths ...

7 The party must change from being a giant fundraising machine to a movement. It needs to unite the poor, working class and middle class, black and white — who haven’t had a raise in 30 years and who feel angry, powerless and disenfranchised.

... If the Democratic Party doesn’t understand these seven truths and fails to do what’s needed, a third party will emerge to fill the void.

Third parties usually fail because they tend to draw votes away from the dominant party closest to them, ideologically. But if the Democratic Party creates a large enough void, a third party won’t draw away votes. It will pull people into politics.

And drawing more people into politics is the only hope going forward.