If Hillary Clinton is a true liberal, as Markos Moulitsas has so definitively asserted, then it creates a framework for healing the wounds that have divided the Democratic Party.

At the same time, it stands to reason that Hillary Clinton’s refusal to acknowledge the growing rift between party members creates an almost insurmountable obstacle. As is common in all sick families, a problem that isn’t acknowledged can’t be cured. And there are many grievances to be healed.

When former Clinton advisor Bill Curry recently said the Democratic Party -- as it currently exists -- is soulless and corrupt, he was simply stating an uncomfortable reality. Under Obama’s leadership, Democrats have embraced too many cruel Republican policies, choosing to turn their backs on millions of Americans who would have normally found solace and support in traditional Democratic values -- and the Obama followers supported those conservative policies to allow the President room to escape accountability for implementing corporate platforms that favored Wall Street over Main Street.

And the Democrats felt no shame.

After the financial collapse, when Obama stood before the American public and said we must all pay our fair share to ensure a healthy financial recovery, progressive members were the only Democrats who said: Why should we be punished? We did nothing wrong; the people who were responsible for inflecting this terrible suffering on the global community were your donors, Mr. President; not your constituents. But he ignored our protests, and we paid dearly, and his criminal donors escaped accountability for their crimes; even worse; he transferred 99% of all net profits made during his tenure to the top 1%.

And the Democrats felt no shame.

When he failed to hold any of the Wall Street criminals accountable for their misdeeds, we complained and he assured us they had done nothing illegal. Only now, because of their recent admissions, we know it was all a lie. And two of those banks, JPMorgan Chase and Citicorp, have been top contributors to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. They committed egregious crimes that caused immense suffering, but he let them go free because they gave him money. It was a clear example of recreancy at the highest level.

As Katrina vanden Huevel recently wrote:

"The unwillingness to hold bankers accountable for their frauds and crimes is a great and continuing failure of our justice system, one that poses a clear danger to this country in the years ahead."

And the Democrats felt no shame.

When Obama allowed the dismantling of our social safety net – programs that previously protected millions of vulnerable people -- his followers pointed at the Republicans and said, “See what they made him do.’ And once again, he escaped accountability; but because of those cuts, America now has more children going to school hungry each morning, than at any other time in modern history.

And the Democrats felt no shame.

Knowing that NAFTA had eliminated over 850,000 U.S. jobs – after Bill Clinton had promised it would create 200,000 positions did not stop Obama from pushing through KORUS, the U.S. Korean Trade Agreement. Like Clinton, he promised American workers KORUS would create 70,000 American jobs, but it did not; instead, it eliminated 75,000 U.S. positions between 2011 and 2014.

And the Democrats felt no shame.

But jobs weren’t the only safeguards lost to Obama’s free trade agreements; U.S. wages took a big hit, also. The Economic Policy Institute said full-time American workers who lacked a four-year college degree lost $1,800 a year because of cheap overseas labor, one-third of it caused by trade with China.

And the Democrats felt no shame.

And now, there is the TPP, the single most unpopular bill being pushed through Congress in modern times. It is despised on the left and right; it is hated by millions of physicians, laborers, environmentalists, legal experts, human rights activists, food workers, and scientists. But members of the OFA and Obama’s followers have decided to protect it no matter the damage it incurs. And the pushback against the TPP has demonstrated how bankrupt and hypocritical Obama’s followers have been. They have expressed incredible indignation at white people for incarcerating too many African Americans; yet it is Obama, the first black president, who is leading the fight to keep slavery and the sex trade business from becoming a defining issue of the TPP.

And yet, the Democrats have no shame.

But the tide is turning against the Democrats because the American public has finally started fighting back. Consider this statement published in a Politico article:

The AFL-CIO was blunt in the call that went out to Rep. Scott Peters, a Democrat who represents San Diego: Vote yes on fast-track authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership…and they’d spend a million dollars to knock him out in next year’s primary. If he managed to win, they’d drop another million against him in the general election.

As Elizabeth Warren recently said:

"The only way we get change is when enough people in this country say, 'I'm mad as hell, and I'm fed up, and I'm not going to do this anymore.'"

But Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren clearly understand the anger roiling at the grassroots level, and they know that people have every right to be furious because the system is rigged. And they understand that when constituents try to protest, DNC leaders minimize their voices at every turn. Foolishly, the Hillary camp and the DNC insist on pushing the meme that there is no dissention within the Democratic Party; and unfortunately, it makes them appear out of touch with average Americans because it fails to acknowledge the intense amount of anger that is being directed at Democratic leaders.

And liberal members are furious at neo-liberals for absconding progressive ideals to conceal their corporate agendas. This can’t be said enough: progressives will not accept anymore third way candidates pretending to be liberals -- the Democratic Party simply cannot afford to install another faux populist in the White House.

So here’s a simple outline for Hillary to follow if she wants to prove she is a “true liberal.” These are policies that all liberals can passionately support.

1. Acknowledge the truth: the Democratic Party is divided, and then address the issues that have caused the division.
2. Repudiate third way and neo-liberal policies, which are the antithesis of traditional Democratic values. The Democratic Party will not survive another faux Democrat.
3. End political triangulation, and stop using agenda politics to divide the party
4. Acknowledge it was a mistake to allow Wall Street criminals to go unprosecuted, and then vow to hold them accountable, including the prosecution of JPMorgan Chase and Citicorp executives.
5. End the kleptocracy in D.C. There is no other issue that will resonate more with liberal voters than advancing a plan to end the wholesale corruption in our nation’s capital. Specifically:
· Close the door to lobbyist influence in D.C.
· Establish iron-clad protocols that will end:
o Conflicts of interest
o Political cronyism,
o Influence peddling
o Illegal campaign contributions
o Prosecute officials who receive kickbacks
o Clamp down on price fixing
6. Secure the future of the American labor force: Lead the fight to stop Fast Track and the TPP
a. Refuse to hand over the sovereignty of our country to international tribunals
b. End trade deficits
7. Promise the DNC will stop promoting faux Democrats
8. Put some teeth behind your campaign rhetoric:
a. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act
9. End the militarization of American police forces
10. Stop NSA spying on innocent Americans. Enforce the free speech protections provided under the Constitution.
11. Nationalize all natural resources. Wall Street and foreign investors took advantage of the financial crisis to seize many of our natural assets including water and farmland.
12. Implement a real low-cost housing plan. Establish programs that will protect homeowners from predatory lenders.
13. Repair our nation’s infrastructure, which will create millions of new jobs.
14. Prosecute corporations who are contributing to climate change. Protecting the environment should be a high priority if you are elected.
15. Tax the wealthy…and then some.
16. Staff your administration with true progressive Democrats. Absolutely no Republicans; no Wall Street insiders.
17. Break up the too-big-too-fail banks.

If Hillary Clinton is a true liberal, as she claims to be, then these issues she should be easy for her to champion, and she should be as outraged at the state of our nation’s economy and justice system as the rest of us. That should help motivate her to lead the fight to defeat the TPP.

Otherwise, she’s just another faux populist trying to lie her way into the White House.