Are you relatively new to Daily Kos? Have you ever felt sorta like you were on the outs, or the FNG? That you had to somehow ‘prove yourself,' or gain some ill defined bonafides before you were accepted into the clique?
If so, don‘t listen to anyone who says your ‘user ID’ is too high, that you’re not part of it just because you‘re a new comer. That’s complete and utter bullshit. I don’t care if you signed up for Daily Kos ten minutes ago. I’m sorry if anyone made you feel otherwise. Because you don‘t have to prove anything here other than this: dare to dream with us.
Somewhere out there in what used to be called TV land is a little girl or boy that has a dream. Maybe the little girl wonders if she can be President, or the little boy wants to find a cure for the cancer sucking the life out of his grandmother or father. Dreams, hopes, optimism. It is one of the greatest gifts evolution -- or God if you prefer -- has brought to mankind.
Sooner or later, in this so-called land of dreams, America where dreams come true, they’re in for a cruel and needless shock. Despite the romantic connotations in cookie-cutter movies and all too predictable novels, the fact is that dreams and those who dare to voice them are often treated with a contempt disguised as concerned pity. People, inevitably those without dreams, or more sadly, those who have had their dreams beaten out of them with life’s unforgiving whip, will now almost stand in line to take turns laughing at the dreamers, telling them in mocking tones that those dreams are hopeless, they’re absurd, fantastical, maybe even using the dreaded ’liberal’ qualifier before the word bullshit. But I’ve seen dreams become reality, in July 1969 (Apollo 11), or when crowds flocked to the top of the Berlin Wall and danced on its concrete corpse. And without being too dramatic, I’ve seen it happen right here on this blog. I’ve seen dreams move mountains.
Late 2005 ...dark, dark days. The GOP had tightened their grip on both the House and Senate under the corrupt leadership of Tom DeLay. In the White House an incompetent crew laughably 'led' by George Bush and his neocon clowns ran things by ... well no one really knows how it is that they ran things and got it so disastrously and consistently fucked up, almost flawlessly wrong on every single thing. All the while a swaggering, smirking Bush, Cheney and assorted nuts and cohorts christened their razor thin victory over John Kerry a ‘mandate’ and proceeded to act as if they owned the nation and had a clue what they were doing. It was a dream of sorts in its own way I guess, in the same way a nightmare is technically a dream ....
But there were still real dreamers, here and there in the growing progressive blogosphere. Among them was a small band of visionaries who thought that it would be fun for a few members of Daily Kos, up to then a virtual community with little real flesh and blood contact, to get together, talk about issue the traditional media gave short shrift. At first hardly anyone bothered to listen to them. But one lady in particular, a former high school science teacher named Gina Cooper, would just not shut up about it. Together with a few others, they organized a gathering called Yearly Kos.
It sounds funny to say now. And when I tell this tale these days I get the distinct feeling that listeners think I’m exaggerating about how grim it looked for us back then. But I’m dead serious: I can honestly tell you, by the time they sold me on it in late 2005, we were scared shitless, genuinely worried, that no one would show up, that no one cared enough, the politicians would ignore us, the media would laugh at us, the conference rooms would be empty, no cameras rolling or clicking, no reporters scribbling. We would be a joke so immense that the right-wing nut-o-sphere would revel in sublime ecstasy at our failure for months.
WOW! Did everyone underestimate that band of dreamers. Here’s just a few of them, and I can’t help but leave some out of this partial list: Pontif, Nolan, Linda, Shanna, Fabooj, Bill in PM, Bob J, Raven the comment attack dog, Hunter, Bonddad, Josh Orton, HPE, NYIBri, SusanG, McJoan, MeteorBlades, Devilstower, DemFromCT, and of course Markos Moulitsas without who none of this would have been possible. These people are among my heroes, and there's no reason why you can't be one of them. I don't care if your user ID is 200,000.
Dreaming is more than kicking back on the couch after a long day musing inwardly on what might be. Or easing off to sleep with visions of change dancing in your head. The kind of dreaming I’m talking about here involved dialing so many phone numbers, you wore off the numerals on the buttons. Talking so much your voice goes out, getting rejected so many times you start keeping flip charts of common objections and responses to them. It’s not just dreaming of change, it’s dreaming how to make change happen.
Through brutally hard work, and I mean 18 hour days seven days a week, for weeks on end, those dreamers went on to change the political landscape of America in 2006. A few months later, they played a key role in changing the House and Senate. In 2007 they laid the ground work to change the country. In 2008 they will change DC: these dreamers will literally change the world. Those dreamers are you.
And these days, the people waiting in line to see these dreamers aren’t doing it to laugh or poke fun. They're waiting in line for a piece of the action, the folks waiting in queue now are politicians and media stars hoping to cash in on the dream that our dreamers brought to life.
This diary isn’t building up to a plea for contributions or to sell you a book or a ticket. It’s to thank you. This post is about dreamers. Dreamers like the thousands of Daily Kos members who supported those early seers with money and time and patronage. I'm talking about you, the dreamer, new or old.
Because if you’re a dreamer, new to the progressive blogosphere, don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you that you’re one day or week or year too late to the party, if you’re here on Daily Kos, or Fire Dog Lake, Or Crooks and Liars, or Atrios, or any of the thousands of new blogs, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re a Johnny come lately.
If you’re a dreamer that just found us last month or last week or yesterday, guess what? You’re among your brother and sister dreamers, and you’re welcome to share your dreams, because here among friends, your dream is our dream. And here among friends, your personal dream will soon be everyone’s reality.
So Welcome! All aboard, and thank you for daring to dream with us.
That’s the real story, and that’s what every little boy or girl now dreaming away should be told.