I only ask, because I've read a lot of pissing and moaning on this site lately and pissing and moaning accomplishes exactly only one thing... It makes you feel better.
That's it. That's all it's ever done and that's all it'll ever do.
I don't know about you, but I'm mad... I'm fucking pissed off and I'm WAY past the point where crying, screaming, depression or even throwing a goddamned beautiful hissy fit - the caliber of which the world has never known; is going to make me feel better.
I left "mad" back in the dust about 50 miles ago and am well into vengeance territory now.
We lost this one and we lost it bigtime... So now what are we going to do about it? We can't change history. This one is already over with... It's done and there's no going back.
A line has been crossed for me and no amount of "Whoops, my bad!" out of any of the cravenly Dems that vote in favor of this piece of shit today is going to cut it with me.
They've crossed the line and now they're going to have to pay.
Now we need to think about what where we're going to go from here and what we're going to do to prepare for the future.
This for me isn't really even about the content of the FISA bill that's up for a vote today (even though the contents of said bill ARE spectacularly craptacular)...
It's about the fact that once again, our side is once again joining up with the opposition to gleefully stab us in the back. Not only are they sticking the shiv in as far as it can possible go, but they're twisting the knife when they have the audacity to feign surprise that we take offense when they betray us!
First they tell us that they absolutely have to pass this piece of shit, because if they don't then the world as we know it will come to an end; taking the lives of every American citizen with it when it blows... and then they tell us we shouldn't worry about it if they do pass this piece of shit, because they'll go back and fix it after we have larger Democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress?
I've never heard a bigger bunch of bullshit in my life!
(Oh wait a minute, yes I have... The Military Commissions Act, the Patriot Acts (both one and two), The Protect America Act... The list just goes on and on and on.)
Either this is necessary to the safety and defense of our Nation and the world at large and in that case should never be repealed at a later date or it's a temporary appeasement to shut the opposition up during an election year that will be repealed at the earliest opportunity after the election is over with; and therefor has nothing to do with national security at all, but rather with politicians not wanting to expend anymore effort than they have to to keep their jobs...
It can't be both and anyone that tries to claim otherwise is lying through their liar's teeth.
It's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that the powers that be within our party think we're complete and total fucking idiots... and as long as we keep doing things the way we've been doing them... They're right. We really ARE idiots and deserve to be treated as such.
They keep trying to have it both ways and when we keep letting them... That makes us total and complete fucking idiots.
Well, I'm sick of being an idiot. I'm sick of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I'm sick to death of my party leaders and the elected officials of my party not only not representing me, but not even listening to me.
I look at our spectacular failure on FISA and everything else to be an opportunity, because now we KNOW that the way we've been doing things just doesn't work.
Okay... So our current plan isn't working. We've established that what we're doing now doesn't work, so now we're able to come up with a new plan... A new plan that WILL work.
So what will work?
Well... I don't know exactly, because I think first we need to identify the problem areas of our current way of doing things to see what we need to keep and what we need to scrap.
Below I'll list a few of the areas we've been successful in:
- Raising money.
As we all know, politics is money and you have to pay to play. We've shown that we have enormous potential to raise money and that we're not afraid to do it. That's a good thing and we need to do more of it.
- Organizing.
As FISA and other issues have shown, we're very good at organizing against things we don't like. It's also shown that we're not yet anywhere where we need to be, but we've shown some serious potential... We just need to refine it.
Off the top of my head here are a few areas where I think we could use improvement:
- We're too focused on the here and now.
We only think about the coming election, current candidates and current issues on the table. We're reactionary, not visionary and I think that's something we need to address. We need to think more about the longterm.
- Our current goals are electoral victory and more and better Democrats.
Well, what exactly does "better" mean and how do we propose to get more of them when we don't even know who or what they are? What good is "electoral victory" when the victory is pyhrric at best? I believe we need specific, more clearly defined goals, because our current goals are mercurial, lacking clear definition.
- We don't have a plan.
We have softly defined goals and no real plan to achieve them... That's got to change. We need concrete longterm plans and the will, perseverance and determination to follow through on our plans until we're successful. Success in politics doesn't happen overnight and we have to plan accordingly. It took the religious right years of setbacks and losses before they were able to gain such dominance and it's going to take us years too. We've got to have a strong detailed plan of what we want to win and how we're going to do it and then we stick with it until we get there. No giving up. No quitting when we (inevitably) get knocked down.
- We don't work the system.
We bitch and complain that the party establishment doesn't listen to us and yet very few of us have taken any steps toward becoming members of the party establishment ourselves.
This needs to change and the sooner, the better.
Join your local party, get involved and establish trust and respect among its membership... Then run for party office the next time it comes up for a vote. I'll warn you upfront that it's a lot of thankless, hard work with absolutely no monetary compensation to be had... but you get to set the agenda, you get a say in which candidates the party is going to support and that's worth all of the thankless drudgery combined.
After you've cemented your reputation as strong, dedicated and loyal Dem within your local party, then it's time to start reaching out to your surrounding parties and their memberships. I know you're probably wondering "What's the point of getting to know other local parties?" and the answer is simple... Congressional District Committees.
Congressional District Committees are the next step up the on the party hierarchy ladder and they have even more say in how things are done within the party than local parties do. Gaining seats on District Committees is the next logical step to take if your goal (like mine) is to take back control of the Democratic Party.
A good District Committee member should know their district and know it's local parties within that district... and if you've already been reaching out to your surrounding local parties like you should have been doing, then you already know the local parties, their membership and the issues they might have... And identifying the problem areas aren't the only leg-up you'll have if get to know the parties within your district.
You'll also have made friends and allies with the very people you'll need to vote you onto the executive committee of the District Committee while you're at it, because it's the party membership within the District that decides who represents their district committee for the party.
If you get elected to the executive committee, because you'll already know the which local parties are strong and which parties aren't and you can plan for cooperative party building activities accordingly. Forewarned is forearmed and all that...
I don't know how many of you are involved in party politics... but those us that are know that it's the local parties that are key to winning any election, because they're the ones that do all the grunt work.
They're the boots on the ground stuffing the envelops, manning the phone banks, knocking on the doors and if a local party isn't strong and doesn't have the volunteer force it needs... Then all of that extremely important work doesn't get done and that's how and why you lose elections.
So those are a few of my ideas of what I think we should be doing to take back our party and our country... Who's got something to add?
Now is the time to start planning and working, because if we don't start now it's just going to take longer for us to win.
We could develop a plan and start implementing it now, we could start really effecting things in 2010. If we started vetting potential candidates now and raising money for any suitable candidates we are able to find soon after, we could have an enormous impact on the 2010 and 2012 elections.
If we start joining our local parties now... Who knows what could happen 10 years down the road? A Kossack could be the head of their state party... and 15 or 20 years from now one of us could be the head of the DNC!
The sky is really the limit here, we just have to work for it. It'll be hard and while we're doing it, it might seem to take forever... But if we keep at it, eventually we'll win.
There's a hell of a lot more us than there are of them and they only win if we LET them... So far, we've let them.
So are we going to keep letting them or are we going to do something about it?
I've been a member of my local party for 3 years and an officer of my local party for 2 1/2 of those years... and all that time I've been steadily making friends within my surrounding local parties. It's not hard to do, because most Democratic activists think exactly the way most of us do... They're disgusted with the amount of influence that the powerful few have over our party, they're outraged over the lack of spine in our party's elected officials in Congress and they want things to change.
Go join your local party and see for yourself... They're just like us. Most of us in the netroots have the same sets of ideals, goals and principles... Well, that holds true among real world Dems, too.
Seriously, I urge each and every one of you to get involved in your local parties... You can make change and probably even make a few good friends to boot! (I know I have!)
Once I've gained enough allies among my fellow local Dems, I'm going to run for District Committee and because of all the work I've done not only within my own local party, but also within my surrounding parties; I'm going to win... And then I'll do everything I can to build and strengthen the local parties within my District to the point where electing a Democratic Congressperson is no longer a distinctly impossible fantasy, but an entirely achievable possibility.
I've always loved this quote by Samuel Adams:
"It does not take a majority to prevail... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."
I'd only add one caveat to it... The irate, tireless minority can get a hell of lot more accomplished if they set the fires from the inside, instead the outside.
I know that change can be made within the party, because I've done it myself. Sure it hasn't been world shaking change that rocks the party to its core... but I'm only one person and I've only been at it for three years.
I think with enough time and enough people we really could change our party... So who's with me?