UPDATE: Thanks to all of you for the discussion in the comments, and for remaining civil for the most part. I have to get up early in the morning EDT to drive my wife to the airport, so I will regrettably be calling it a night, and may not get back to responding to comments for a while. This diary was written as a spur of the moment thing, and not one that I worked on for very long. In hindsight, I should have set it to publish tomorrow, but I didn't. My apologies for that.
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This is addressed to all the people who post diaries here at Daily Kos.
Please, allow me to ask a small favor of you.
But first, permit me to tell you why I'm posting this diary and where I'm coming from.
I get that we are already in full campaign mode (ugh) even though it is a good 18 months before the next Presidential election and a good 10 months before the first primary.
I get that the mission statement of this site is to elect Democrats (better ones hopefully and certainly more of them). I have no problem with that.
I understand why prominent Democratic Party politicians and political figures (and the odd socialist -cough - Senator Bernie Sanders - cough -) post here.
I get that.
And I understand the reason they do.
This is the biggest blog/website on the liberal/progressive side of the political spectrum and it draws lots of people to read the site's diaries and front page posts, and to debate the merits of candidates, policies and issues that are important to the most dedicated, most active members of both the Democratic Party and to liberal and progressive causes. Indeed, we have front page bloggers here whose posts are dedicated to specific "beats" just like back in the heyday of print journalism and daily newspapers (Shaun King, being the most recent example on issues regarding police accountability and racism, and for another, the inimitable Meteor Blades who focuses a lot of time and attention on Environmental matters, among other topics).
Politicians and candidates post here for a very good reason - to promote themselves, to promote their candidacies, to garner favorable attention for their policies and positions, to rally the most passionate people on the left to support them, and last but not least, to ask for donations of money (to pay for their campaigns) or time (i.e., volunteers to make those phone calls and knock on those doors and everything else under the sun a campaign needs done).
I recognize the valued role this site, more than any other on the "better side" of our political divide, plays in helping decide who wins primaries, nomination fights, and elections. I know, and anyone who has been coming to this site for a while knows, this to be true.
And, I have no problem with people who work for or support specific politicians and candidates to post diaries in support of same. It's expected. In a way, it provides an important public service. One can learn a lot from reading those posts. Do these diarists' present their preferred politicians in the best light possible? Of course they do! I get that, as well.
But, we also know that many of these posts slam or attack opponents of a diarist's preferred candidate. Especially, during the "campaign season." Again, not surprised. Not in favor of it, but hey, it's politics, right. "Going negative" happens.
So, now I have gotten the preliminaries out of the way and you know where I stand, let me now speak directly to the diarists who support specific candidates and politicians. Here's what I am asking of you.
In the interest of full disclosure, if you do have any connection to a candidate, or to their campaign, even if that connection is through a political action committee or non-profit organization that is not "directly" linked to any specific candidate, but which, more often than not, favors or comes out in support of a specific candidate, then please, in the interest of full disclosure, inform the people who you wish to read your diaries and posts of that connection. [Note: This last paragraph states how I would define "affiliated" for what it is worth. Feel free to come up with a better definition if you like.]
Transparency folks. That is all I am asking of you. Transparency. The more transparent you are here regarding your affiliation/connection with a campaign or candidate, the more trust I am willing to extend to you and what you have to say.
I don't think that is too much to ask. I also don't think it is too much to expect.
Thank you for your time.
Steven D
Ps. I do not currently support any specific person for any elected office, nor am I affiliated (as defined above) with the campaign of any politician or candidate for elected office. If and when that changes, I will let you know.