Time for a Democratic Party reboot

Many years ago, when I was working as a diesel mechanic, I mistakenly cut through the casing while trying to replace an old bearing, costing the company $1,000 to fix my mistake. The next day I was fired, and rightly so: I wasn’t helping the organization achieve its goals.

At the state and national levels, the Democratic Party’s leadership isn’t helping the organization achieve its goals. Nationally, the party backed one presidential candidate over the others long before the voters could make their choice. In South Carolina, the party couldn’t get even one of six congressional challengers elected.

SC Democrats mull next move after big losses on Election Day

In private business, a failure of this magnitude would demand the very public resignation of all responsible upper management and the development and very public dissemination of a new strategy. Nothing less would maintain customer and stockholder confidence in the organization and attract new customers, allowing it to survive and thrive into the future.

If the S.C. Democratic Party were just a private club of like-minded people getting together for fun, it wouldn’t need to set goals and be responsible for meeting them. But it’s not a private club; it is a critical piece of the only organization able to save the future for our kids, because the Republican Party shows no interest in doing so.

Thirty years ago, the inability to get even one new congressman elected out of six wouldn’t have been that big a deal; we’d just try again next time. But we have no time to waste. If the Democratic Party wants to keep the earth a habitable planet for our grandkids and keep civilization functioning, it must reboot with a new focus on representing more of us in order to finally win a majority in both Columbia and Washington.

I suggest the Democratic Party embrace all hardworking Americans. Yes, we will have to agree to disagree on the minor issues that the 1 percent and the establishment have been using to divide us. But my campaign for First Congressional District showed that we already agree on the major issues.

The current S.C. and national Democratic leadership have failed spectacularly and must be fired. A new strategy to represent and fight for hardworking Americans must be developed and articulated. Only that will bring us the majority our democracy requires to save the future for our kids and grandkids.

This story was originally published November 21, 2016 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Time for a Democratic Party reboot."