What’s gone wrong with the Democrats? In today’s Times, Robert Reich discusses the politics of the last 10 years and postulates an answer to this question. It makes sense to me. If you let yourself be defined merely in opposition to others, eventually you’ll have no clear long-term message. (See: the Democrats in the 2002 elections.) The Republicans have the advantage right now because they know what they want to do, while most Democrats just do what they think other people want them to do.

The answer is so stupidly simple. Figure out what you, you yourself, believe in, and why you believe in it, and then try to convince other people that you’re right.

If you can’t figure out what you believe in, you have no business being in politics.