Republicans are dancing on the grave. They really were afraid of losing the House and with reason. Their leader, the president, is sinking like a rock. That should hurt them, but only so much.

The decision of the Virginia Supreme Court to throw out the new map enacted by voters at the urging of Democrats threatens to leave the House in Republican hands. The arithmetic all changes with Virginia and other Republican states to follow.

It is against this background that one should look at the comments of liberal former Rep. Barney Frank, who was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out and also the first to marry a same-sex partner. Barney, who is currently in hospice care in Maine, has been giving interviews in advance of the September publication of his book, "The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy." In the book, Barney argues that big change is possible, but politicians must prepare the public for it through incremental change.

The fight for gay rights is his Exhibit A for what the left needs to do. "In the gay rights effort, we took the most controversial aspects of the agenda and put them last: marriage," Frank has told reporters. "We did discrimination in employment, gays in the military, a number of other things came before marriage."

"Back as late as 2004, you could be against same-sex marriage, as Obama was and still be widely supported by the gay community. Because people understood, if you've got somebody supporting most of your agenda, don't drive them away with an unpalatable litmus test."

Do they understand that now? The push to the hard left is the strongest force in the party right now.

According to Barney, we missed the boat on economic inequality and may be moving too fast on transgender rights. He thinks there is an analogy between the gay marriage issue and the participation of trans women in women's sports.

"Most of the transgender agenda is very supported and easily defensible, but there is still a lot of resistance to female trans playing sports. Just as we deferred marriage, didn't make marriage part of the litmus test, we should be doing the same with participation in sports. When you defer the most controversial things, after a while, they become less controversial because the object of the discrimination, it becomes less alien to people."

"I don't mind people advocating advanced positions," Frank says. "I filed a bill to legalize marijuana in 1972. What I object to is when this ideologically committed group takes the things that they are most committed to, that are the most controversial and make(s) them litmus tests and then cause problems for everybody else." Defunding the police is an example he cites as a proposition that too many Democrats neglected to rebut. "A lot of my mainstream friends say, 'Well we don't advocate defunding the police, we don't advocate this and that,'" Frank said. "My answer: That's not good enough. You have to separate yourself from them, because the perception right now is that the Democratic Party as a whole is committed to a number of things that only a small minority supports."

The ruling of the Virginia court will eliminate four newly drawn Democratic-leaning U.S. House districts. In the redistricting war that this year's midterms have created, Republicans have now won, carving out more red seats than Democrats have blue seats and giving them a clear structural advantage in the upcoming elections.

We can no longer afford litmus tests. We can't stand on political correctness. We need what Republican strategist Lee Atwater used to call a big tent — big enough to encompass all Democrats, not only those on the left, where Barney has spent his life.

I went to law school with Barney. I have always admired him — for his intellect, his insights and his courage. I'm not sure I agree with him on how to win transgender equality, but when he speaks, I listen. We all should.

To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: David Flandre at Unsplash