I’ve been made aware of some surprising things in the past day or two.
First, I’m not a progressive.
I mean, I thought I was, since I always thought bigotry, discrimination and violence against people of color, women, immigrants, religious minorities, the LGBT community and the disabled are, as my kids might say, a thing.
Here’s how I’ve tried to express it:
This is my understanding of a progressive vision for America, what a progressive vision necessarily must be:
America has always been multi-cultural— just ask the indigenous Americans, those who were here first, about the immense variety of languages spoken and customs practiced before the Spanish, French, English and Dutch arrived.
The presence of diverse cultures has never translated to respect for that diversity by the dominant white majority, nor has the dominant white majority fully accepted the principles of an inclusive, pluralistic society, with equal protection of the law, equal justice, equal opportunity educationally and economically.
I don’t believe that conservatives have ever shared this vision of an inclusive, pluralistic America. That’s why they seceded, opposed civil rights for African-Americans, opposed suffrage for women, and fought marriage equality for LGBT individuals.The rejection of pluralism could not have been clearer in Trump’s statements, nor could the rejection of pluralism be expressed more clearly than through the act of voting for Trump.
If they don’t share this fundamental vision of America— an inclusive, pluralistic society— there’s no room for compromise.
And we must never compromise this conception of what America is supposed to be: an inclusive, pluralistic society, with equal protection of the law, equal justice, equal opportunity educationally and economically.
People suffering and dying. Might be important.
I also thought our opponents were conservatives, since they don’t share these values, and they have always opposed our efforts to make the society better for everyone. But I was wrong.
I never realized that not only was I never a progressive, the real problem has been the Democratic party all along:
Trump and reactionary control of government is the inevitable and PREDICTED result of the past 40 years of neoliberal policies.
It’s not that the GOP or conservative voters might have had any role in any of that. Good to know.
News to me as well, but there is no casual racism here either, according to DKos member imhumanru:
There is no casual racism here.
Which is a relief, because I would have been more troubled when, not ten minutes later, I saw this, from DKos member Banana Republicans:
I do dislike when they act as if their identity is their major accomplishment.
Right, they just cash in those ‘special interest identity group’ member rewards points at the end of each month (sorry, if you’re a white hetero Christian male, you don’t get to participate in this fun and exciting program), to live off all the free stuff they get, and claim all those unearned, unwarranted opportunities and privileges.
But even more has been brought to my attention.
Not only am I not a progressive, this isn’t even a progressive site! I’ve really been off-track— according to DKos member apotropaic:
This is not a progressive site and all empires eventually fade.
Yikes!
So, I’m not a progressive, and this isn’t a progressive site. Ok, so I guess I just need to reassess my views, and what I thought this place was all about.
Also, according to apotropaic, it’s really pretty silly to bothering with all this political stuff, or focusing on Putin at all (spelling in original maintained):
Don't be naive, this country is going to come apart at the seems with or without Putin.
So much I was not aware of.
But there’s more!
Turns out, this isn’t even Kos’s site. It belongs to the community, at least according to DKos member imhumanru (spelling in original maintained):
Is it “his” site? Sure, he developed it, but without readers and commenters it is nothing, so it is no loinger completely his. So many people devote so many hours to contributing to this site for free that it is more of a public site than his personal ranting space.
Hey, I’ve written diaries and loads of comments, I guess it’s my site, more than Kos can say it’s his (so Kos, you let me know when my royalty check is in the mail).
But of course, it’s not my site. Not because Kos says it’s his, but because I’m not a real progressive. Only real progressives get a say in what this site is about.
Although, it seems odd that real progressives would want to claim dominion over a site that’s not progressive. Hmmm.
In any case, back to the question in the title— Whose site is it?