Changa attributes the party's dramatic failure in November of last year to the common perception that its core policies have drifted too far to the right. Even though the Democrats present themselves as liberal and progressive on certain issues, she said, in other crucial issues the party has swung far to the right, "particularly in the competition with Republicans for corporate interest and money."
"The issue is the merit in which Democratic elites leverage power to separate themselves more from actual ordinary on-the-ground people and have enshrined the influence and needs of corporate America," Changa said during the Loud & Clear broadcast.
It is essential that the Democratic party shift direction, Changa asserted. If Democrats continue on their present course, she warned, it will mean "the death of the party."
"There are so many protest groups that have been rising up, so many different groups organizing to get certain rights, that we've been litigating and trying to get in place for, at this point, hundreds of years. When you have this conflict, it's hard to see how the party can continue as it is," she said.
"More of the voting population identifies as independent. It is best to start looking to what the people want and need, instead of looking to what these very select few group of the donor class is pushing for."
However, Changa expressed doubt that the party would actually move to the left, were Keith Allison to win.
"There is a lot of hope and optimism about what the DNC could be like under Keith Ellison. I almost feel like this is the way people were envisioning a Bernie Sanders presidency," she said. "Either way it goes, you still have the system that you have, you still have struggles in institutional barriers that exist."
