Once upon a time it was oh so simple. The bumbling, sinister and comically vicious GOP controlled all the levers of power. The mainstream media was one big sycophant armada gulping up and regurgitating every lie and rightwing talking point. The Democrats were a gaggle of weaklings prostituting the hell out of themselves to achieve that oh so revered and mythical status of Centrist. The US seemed one big, dumb and cruel place where you could launch imperialist wars, create 16th Century-style mercenary armies and install accountability-free covert domestic spying rings and the masses couldn’t be bothered to look up from their bag of Doritos and Survivor: Thailand. And Daily Kos thrived.
It thrived not just in terms of number of hits, membership and growing profile on the media landscape. It thrived because of a shared narrative that informed Kossacks and spurred them to unified action. The ideas were simple – US political system controlled by an overclass; overclass might skew right or centre but was the antithesis to leftwing progressivism; Democratic Party co-opted, ineffective and weak; the best chance for progressive change in the US would be through reclaiming the Democratic Party.
Well, we’re nine months into a Democratic presidency. Not only is the Bush era over, the long 30-year night of the Conservative resurgence is over. The Democratic Party controls all three branches of Government. The GOP has become a fringe repository of fundamentalist lunatics, hard right semi-militia members, a small cadre of chicken hawk nerds and out and out greed heads. There have been few better times in the history of the United States for sweeping, progressive change. But it’s not happening. And Daily Kos is disjointed. And it’s because of Obama.
I’ll rephrase it more diplomatically – it’s because the Democrats are finally ascendant. The sticking point, the fundamental question is – are we an appendage of the White House and supporter of its position or are we an independent entity that aligns itself with the White House when our goals are the same and confronts them when they are not? Are we loyal to the Democrats? Should we be?
By now you’re probably asking (if you made it this far through the diary) who the hell is this and what’s he babbling about? My posting history is very short and this is my first diary. But I’ve been lurking here a long time, years. I was introduced to progressive politics by circumstance more than by thirst for knowledge. I was born in the States but spent many years in Trinidad, a country that on paper is a progressive’s dream. Lots of left wing policies (and from first hand I can tell you a lot of them are failures). So I certainly wasn’t a hardcore leftie when I came back to the US in 2000. But my international experience gave me something to compare US society with (I’ve lived in Europe as well). And I can tell you, the United States is very far to the right of any society I’ve experienced. That’s why “centrism” is such a foolish notion.
I know I’m not a vet here and I’m certainly not telling anyone how Daily Kos should be. I just believe this is an important discussion to have because believe it or not, almost every other diary fight that is taking place on the site right now – whether it be DOMA, health care reform, torture prosecutions, Rick Warren, indefinite detention, etc., etc., etc. – is a proxy for the big schism – are we loyal Democrats or loyal progressives.
Personally, I don’t trust politicians. And furthermore I don’t think I NEED to trust a politician. A big part of Daily Kos for me is the personal empowerment it allows. When a community can band together, raise money, coordinate protests and investigate lobbyist connections – to me that is what Democracy is about. It doesn’t matter who is in power or how benevolent he/she is, that kind of activism is good for society.
More importantly, that is how our opposition thinks. I work in corporate public relations. Companies do not trust or have faith in anyone. They push their agenda, hard. And they push it nonstop. I think we are at the point now where we can see that corporations are the true opposition – not the loony tune Republican base.
You have to understand how frightening progressivism is to the powers that be in this country and how aggressive their opposition is to it. You have to understand how many powerful enemies we have and the vast resources at their disposal. It takes a truly extraordinary politician to stand up to that and I frankly can’t blame a politician for not being willing to. I don’t expect it. I fully expect to be a member of one of many competing interest groups trying to influence politics. But what I don’t expect is to be a division of a politician’s political apparatus. In my opinion it would be a colossal waste of all the effort that many people have put in to creating the vibrant and driven community that exists today.
But this is only my opinion. I’m writing this diary more in the hopes that the discussion takes place. It's better we have debate about the core issue than debate whether a public option is vital or the duties of the Justice Department.
So, what do you see Daily Kos’s role to be in the post-Bush era?