I don't know who are the "swimming pool liberals".  
I think that as long as people don't vote, a democracy cannot work.  I also believe that the injection of big money into politics is highly counterproductive.  There were bipartisan efforts to regulate campaign contributions.  Citizen United cut off those efforts.  This simply increased many people's distrust of the entire political process and aggravated the belief among many that voting doesn't matter, because money predetermines the outcome.
I agree with you that the Democratic party needs re-invigoration.  I don't know what it will take, since it does not seem that last year's loss made much of an impression on party leaders.