This has been a big problem my whole life: only old white people reliably come out to vote in mid-term elections. And more often than not, what they go for is "throw the bums out" rather than any reliable ideological result, seems like they basically want gridlock,like they are conservative in wanting gridlock. The "Gingrich revolution" was particularly devastating and shocking when it happened, after Clinton/Gore was installed, all due to low turnout by those left of center.

Articles like this and statements like your headline strike me as living in the past and backwards.

If people and interest groups want both current parties to survive at this point, they have to reach out to the parties, actually join them as card carrying members and take them in the direction where they want them to go and that other people will find attractive and want to join in.

To just sit on the couch until "outreach" comes to you has it backwards. Strikes me as absurd. The parties are dying.

The Bernie movement is helping kill one, the Trump movement the other.

Granted, there will be an influx of money and support right now from the majority of donors angry about Trump to the Democratic party. But that is going to be a temporary things and doesn't mean the main trajectory is going to change.

They need bodies in the parties that aren't retirement age. They need interesting people to want to run for office and others to support them.

To act like there is someone out there working at DNC that has it all together, that is the boss man that is going to reach out to the people sitting on the couch is to fly in the face of reality. They don't have it all together, they need help, they need input and fresh bodies. They are a bunch of old people still arguing the last election.So I myself am negative about that, I don't think that's going to happen.

The platform becomes what the party members make it. It's as simple as joining up instead of protesting in the streets.