The fact that someone "left of center" has expressed any disappointment with his own party shouldn't prompt any more of an instruction for silence ("don't feed the trolls") than it would be for someone "right of center" to jump on me when I'm critical of Republicans for being pious and overly-obstructive. I think Marcia would probably agree with me that we don't feel "empowered" at all that someone left of center is frustrated with his own party

Absolutely! Like you, I am not a republican - I am a libertarian. And there are plenty of republicans that I think should be booted out of office - John McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are 4 that leap to mind immediately. And I actually like Joe Manchin a lot better than I like some republicans.