Progressive Values - Who Shall Speak For Us?

Who shall speak for us, we Americans who hold progressive values? Certainly not the Republican party, broken and schizophrenic as it is. The Republican party is divided on the issue of whether America should be a Theocracy or a Plutocracy. The GOP is also divided on whether or not to support an unpopular President in his attempts to gloss over a costly mistake of a war in Iraq.
So then, in our two-party tradition, the Democrats are the obvious choice. They must speak for we progressives, is that not so? Unfortunately, they have not been very outspoken in their opposition to the Republican efforts to undermine our freedoms, deceive the public, and squander our lives and resources. What kind of an opposition have they been? They have been an almost nonexistent opposition, I must admit. Further, they have offered few, if any good ideas of their own in the past few years.
So what are our progressive ideals? We stand for equal opportunity, a chance for everyone in society to flourish and contribute to the best of our ability. We count our people as having the highest value, not their money. Thus we want to see that no person’s life goes to waste, for their own as well as our own sake. We want to see everyone PROGRESS in their lives, and we look for means to allow everyone to have that opportunity. Every time a child goes hungry, we suffer as a community. Every time a prospective student can’t afford to go to school, we all suffer. Every time a homeless person becomes ill, we all suffer. Every time a person is denied employment based on their race, gender, or orientation we all suffer. Every time making money takes precedence over people’s welfare, we all suffer. Every time an election is contested and the truth is not sought, we all suffer. Suffering may be an inevitable part of life, but allowing needless and fruitless suffering is outrageous. We progressives stand in favor of eliminating needless suffering. This is true in our own communities and nation as well as around the globe. So, we would rather work with others, not dictate to them, for the mutual benefit all. Most of us progressives have deep philosophical and spiritual values that inform our opinions. We would rather build a more happy, prosperous and healthy earth, rather than waste all our resources in hope that the rapture will take us away before things get really bad. In fact, most progressive ideals ARE Christian ideas! I don’t recall Christ’s sermons on the need for preemptive military action, the need to lobby Caesar for lower taxes, or his advice on how to judge and force people to conform to one’s own conception of morality. But I do seem to recall a good deal about forgiving one’s enemies (Matthew 4:14-15), not judging other people (Luke 7:37), and loving one’s neighbor. (Matthew 19:19 )
It does not seem that the Democrats have been doing much to promote our values, and the Republicans have been working against them.
So will stand for these values? I wonder…