This is my 1001st dairy here at Daily Kos. I’ve blogged other places and not all of those posts have made it here, so it is not the 1001st post ever but it is still a bit of milestone and I thought I’d brag a little, if you, the readers will allow.
It was the start of a turn around when I signed on to Daily Kos for the first time in January of 2006. Democrats where starting to grow a spine, the nation had decided that even thought it re-elected the criminal Bush administration they really had had enough of the policies, and especially the wars, of that group of demented crony-capitalists.
I had some goals when I signed on with Something the Dog Said. I figured that if I wanted to improve my writing skills and my political persuasion that this would be the place to get the kind of instant feed back a ADD child of the TV generation craves and needs. Boy, howdy was I right about that!
I got some great argument from Adam B in one of my early posts about the 9th Circuit Court finding that an anti-gay tee-shirt could not be worn in high school. It was the first time that I got smacked around on the facts and it was a real lesson in being prepared with your argument before posting.
I also learned that a bit can be taken too far. For those of you who’ve only started reading my work in the last couple of years I used to write in the third person, saying things like “the Dog thinks that Democrats should be more worried about Iraq than any other issue”.
It was a literary conceit (heavy on the conceit) that I was just the typist for a talking dog and he was the brains behind the whole operation. I did it for years, and had people who loved it and loathed it. Eventually I got some advice from Droogie that if I wanted to be read by the most people, then I needed to write in a style that did not turn a good number of them off.
Even though it was good advice it still took me another 18 months to implement it.
So what have 1001 posts added to the conversation here? It’s hard to say if they have added anything. We have a vibrant and diverse community here and we pretty much write about everything.
Still there are some topics that I am proud to say I pushed. The issue of accountability under the law for torture is one that I have always championed. It is a tragic fact that we have lost this fight until at least the next Democratic administration after President Obama.
I had high hopes (as many of us did) for this President in terms of restoring the rule of law. Still as disappointed as I am in his lack of backbone on this issue, I do have some sympathy. There has never been an administration which investigated and prosecuted the top level officials from the one immediately previous to it. That might have been something that could have been overcome if there were not so many other absolutely urgent issues on day one of the Obama Administration. Still, to my mind it is an opportunity lost that continues to cost our nation in terms of respect in the world and danger to our premise that all men are equal under the law.
There are three series that I am particularly proud of; the Friday Constitutional, First Amendment Friday and Sunday Bread series. Friday Constitutional was a section by section reading and discussion of the Constitution. It was written, originally in the third person Dog style, but I reposted it with edits to make it more approachable for more readers last year.
The First Amendment Friday’s grew from that at Adam B’s suggestion. That series took Professor Jack Balkin’s (of Balkination blog, you should be reading him all the time! ) First Amendment Law syllabus and looked at the Supreme Court cases that have shaped our free speech rights.
And Sunday Bread, well that one is kind of obvious. It is entering its third year and grew from my horror at the fact that most people think that baking bread at home is somehow too hard. There I’ve offered up over 100 recipes for everything from basic French Bread to Croissants to Cherry Cheesecake.
One of the most fabulous things about my time at Daily Kos has been the way that the community will support its members. I’ve written about grieving for Dad, having to put my beloved Springer Tycho to sleep and going bankrupt. The level of caring and good will that has been extended to me by the community is one of the clearest examples of the difference between Liberals/Progressives and Conservatives. Where that other side will says “You’re on you own” we show on a regular basis that we believe and act on the premise “We’re all in this together”.
Looking back on the last six years I think that I’ve done pretty well with my goals. I am often embarrassed when I look at my early efforts, but the whole point was to get better at this skill set of blogging and I think that I have.
I certainly write better, can research more accurately and I like to think that I have developed some facility in breaking down complex issues and explaining them without dumbing them down.
If I have improved at all, it is do to you Kossacks. The ones that have encouraged me, the ones that have argued with me and forced me to think my ideas through more fully, the community that has given me a shoulder in dark times. If it we’re not for all of that blogging would be like shouting down a hole.
So here is to the last six years; they’ve been a learning experience and one I would not trade for the world. And here is looking forward to the next six, we have a hell of lot of work ahead of us Kossacks. Politics is a job that is never finished and every gain we make is challenged by those who don’t share our beliefs.
Thank you Kossacks for the support and taking the time to read what this Liberal has to say. Some of you are likely be pissed off by what I write in the future, just like some were in the past. All I can say is, let’s argue!
The floor is yours.