According to Dan Diamond of Politico Pulse, 2.5 million people have voted for Bernie Sanders so far. Let’s put aside the question of whether Bernie can or will win the nomination. Those votes will be needed in the general election. Many — but certainly not all — of the people casting those votes are young, progressive voters, the kind that one would think would be welcome on a site like DKos. I certainly found this site in 2007-8 when Obama was first coming up, and was very happy to find other like-minded folks to talk to. Although by no stretch of the imagination was I a young person, I was and am proudly progressive.
But I am very troubled by Kos’ most recent (and somewhat confusing) posting about something that’s supposed to take place March 15, long before the end of the primaries. We’re supposed to stop “malicious” postings about Hillary. That’s great — why not stop malicious postings on both sides, starting now? And why ban terms like “oligarchy,” “neocon” and “warmonger?” These refer to the very issues that go to the heart of what has happened to the Democratic party (in my opinion).
Of course I support (trying to) create a united front once there is a nominee. But we are not there yet, and cutting off or limiting discourse before there is one (regardless of “the math”) just feels wrong to me.
What troubles me most is something that another Kossack posted in Kos’ story:
If you’re a liberal, and you find yourself in a protracted discussion about what you are and aren’t “allowed” to say, you know you’re in the wrong place.
Is that the kind of site we’ve turned into? Do we really want to spend so much of our energy wondering if something we say is or is not going to get us banned, or watching like a hawk to see if someone else is saying something bannable? This is Markos’ site, of course, but maybe he’d like to think about taking a couple of steps back from the recent pronouncement. Because I really hope that this site can be a home to who knows how many new voters that Bernie has inspired to come out and caucus and vote for him. They will be part of any real solution, including preventing Trump or Cruz from gaining the White House.