Establishment Democrats are no longer interested in fighting for anything

Hillary Clinton, one of several possible candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, has sounded guarded in recent media appearances. For example, she isn't willing to take a firm stand on a number of issues, such as the Keystone XL pipeline and legalization of recreational marijuana.

This is a considerably different Hillary Clinton today than the one we all saw in the 1990's. Back then, Hillary publicly spoke out in favor of universal health care and railed against the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against establishment Democrats, such as herself, and progressives.

Since Hillary Clinton is considered by many to be the standard-bearer of the establishment wing of the Democratic Party, that leads me to ask this question: Has the Democratic establishment stopped fighting for anything?

One of my biggest grievances about the current leadership of the Democratic Party is that the current leadership of the party is more concerned about getting themselves and their cronies elected than fighting for anything that would make America a better place to live. Granted, on a few issues, such as marriage equality and, more recently, student loan reform, most establishment Democrats are fighting alongside progressives. However, on many other issues, most establishment Democrats are either siding with the far-right Republicans or distancing themselves from the issue altogether.

The Democratic establishment has completely given up on the idea of political courage these days. Instead of fighting for ideas that will make America a better place to live, the Democratic establishment is more concerned about sucking up to special interests and rewarding their cronies. It's time for progressives to divide and conquer the Democratic Party and lead the party into a new, more progressive generation of leadership and courage. It's time for progressives to start fighting for pro-middle class, pro-worker, pro-woman, pro-civil rights, pro-civil liberties, and pro-democracy values, and start realizing that both the Republicans and the Democratic establishment are adversaries in this fight for America's heart and soul.