The point you seemed to be trying to make was that the radical leftists weren't running the Democratic Party. Your list didn't really make that point. If your point is that these people would be harmless in power, I don't quite buy that one either.

A look back at history will show extremely tough, cagy, and highly effective warriors in the Democratic Party during decisive world-wide conflicts.

The modern Democratic Party is light years away from the Democrats of the 40s, 50s, or even early 60s. I reprinted JFK's last speech (never delivered at Dallas) a while back. You would not see anything like that from a modern Democrat.

I followed the course of the leftist blogs as they leaned into the Connecticut primary. Believe me, they made the crucial difference in the outcome, and got the guy they were looking for.

In 2001, Democrats were insane with fury that Lieberman wasn't the vice president. His positions haven't changed significantly since then, so what has?

As far as damage is concerned, I know what socialism does to countries, and what people like Ted Kennedy would do if they had the power they really wanted. I know who would be in key leadership posts if Democrats took power again, and what their positions are in those areas. Unlike a lot of people who seem to be going way off the deep end around here about Republicans in power, I don't think Democrats taking back power would mean the end of existence, but I would prefer not to have to deal with the results.

As far as "fascism" goes, the "14 points" have been making the rounds for quite a while now. The points were written in an article--or rather pulled out of a hat--by Laurence Britt in 2003, who is no more of a political scientist than I am. They were specifically tailored to the current situation with little or no reference to real fascism. Many of the points had nothing in common with actual historical fascist regimes. Believe me, if you were in a fascist regime, you'd know it.

You could get a lot of perspective by talking to people who escaped to our country from real oppressive regimes. They may have political opinions across the board, or problems with this administration or that one, but I'd bet none of them would go back.