My Cheetos by my side, I am fired up and ready to ... write a blog post about blog posts about blog posts. Because frankly, I've been really disappointed with the low quality of the meta diaries lately. And now, I'm out to change that.
I begin with this comment:
I joined DKos about a month or two ago. I don't know if all this meta stuff is being produced mostly by old(er) members, but if so, just thought I'd mention that the number of such diaries is a turn off for this new(er) member. It's actually shocking -- as well as tiresome. Of course I've learned to mostly just avoid them. Still it's tiring, depressing, dis-heartening. It adds to my sense of hopelessness, makes me feel that anything I might do in real life is meaningless, has no chance of having real impact.
I get enough of this type of feeling from Fox and the rest of the MSM.
DKos and outlets like it need to be more mindful of helping people feel that they have the potential to act in ways that have some hope in making a difference, cuz we all know the odds are stacked against it -- though hopefully not simply impossible.
We have a long, difficult struggle ahead of us. For those of us who have children, thinking of what their future holds can break one's heart. We need mutual support and encouragement to rally to act in such ways as has potential to provide our children a decently well-governed society.
Commentary after the jump. And a story. About Democrats.
During the September 2009 "final push" on health insurance reform, I had a canvassing event scheduled in Williamson County, Tennessee. Williamson County is one of the most wealthy counties in the United States - home to healthcare executives (many of them are HCA alumni), country music stars, Gospel music greats, and some folks who were lucky enough to own property in the county back in the 1980s, when the county was basically rural and Al Gore was their Congressman. It was raining that day, so we decided to scrap the canvass and do some phonebanking. As it turned out, the Williamson County Democratic Party headquarters was open and they were having a Saturday morning coffee meeting.
We arrived at the meeting, and it was a group of mostly 50+ white men. The topic of conversation seemed to be griping about the fact that the local rec center's TVs were set on Fox News, and how outrageous that was. They were talking about writing a petition to the county to stop the rec center staff from playing Fox News. (Power to the people!)
It was around this moment that I understood why Tennessee's Democratic Party is in the crapper.
If the wealthiest county in Tennessee - home to healthcare executives, music industry stalwarts, and massive agricultural production - had a Democratic Party more interested in bitching about Fox News than in actually talking about health reform, then what does that mean for the quality of policymaking we're going to see?
To be sure, Fox News is craptacular and it's embarrassing that a publicly-owned government-funded building would be showing Fox News. But Fox is what's being watched in small businesses, homes, and churches all over the South. Fox is just supplying the candy people want. People want to believe that the liberal media is lying to them because they can't handle the harsh reality they're living in. They want to blame NPR and Planned Parenthood because they can't handle freedom. They want to attack President Obama's credentials and legitimacy because they're fundamentally racist SOBs who are envious as hell about the towering intellect, extraordinary charisma, and political persuasive power of one of our greatest leaders in history. (They're probably concerned about the size of his genitalia, too.)
The news from this 2009 party meeting isn't all bad. They were happy to see some young, fresh faces (especially some 20-something women) and to hear that there were people who were actually taking action, organizing, talking to voters, and convincing them that healthcare is a basic human right and not just a privilege for those who can afford to pay for it. As it turned out, this meeting led to the promotion of one of these 20-something women to a county party executive position.
But this never would have happened if some newcomers hadn't arrived at the meeting, ready to work, ready to change the topic of conversation, and ready to stop talking and start working.
It's something I experienced in church, but understood much better in 12-step recovery rooms. "The most important person in the room is the newcomer," I learned. Those who come into a community with a hunger to make a difference and a willingness to participate in the community are the most important thing. How we welcome newcomers - the stranger, the foreigner, the immigrant, the young - will make or break our political future.
That's why immigration reform matters, and why walls and guns and warrantless wiretaps can never solve the problem. It's a question of our core values as Americans: do we take citizenship as a birthright to be protected, or as a sacred trust to be passed on to others? Is freedom just for those who were lucky enough to be born here? Or is freedom a basic and universal human right? Will we put our personal security ahead of our community welfare? Or will we choose to reinvest in others, blessed to be a blessing to others?
Liberals know how to answer that question. Kossacks know the right answers. But too often, we try too hard to convince and persuade. Too often, we get stuck in the same circular firing squads that crush our collective spirit and muffle our message.
Many long-time Kossacks know that I voted Bush in 2000. My first diary was a "GBCW" to the Republican Party in Tennessee. A political party that once stood for compassionate conservatism had morphed into something neither compassionate nor conservative - and I think I realized that compassionate conservatism was nothing more than a slogan designed to dupe young Evangelicals and Randian objectivists into believing that the best government is no government.
For me, being part of this online community means recognizing that I'm a perpetual newcomer. In 2008, I was welcomed with open arms despite the fact that people couldn't believe I was so damned gullible. I've always been compassionate, and I still am. But now, I'm finding that the most compassionate people on the planet are Kossacks. It's one thing to give money to your church, supporting those who think like you, walk like you, talk like you, and live in the same gated community. It's another thing entirely to give money to support military families who are fighting a war that you're adamantly opposed to. It's something completely different when you're writing obituaries for the dead who gave their lives fighting against religious zealots.
I know what this community is capable of. I've seen it. I've been part of it.
We're going to need a lot more Cheetos, but it's time for us to make room for more newcomers. We won't win by narrowing the playing field. We will win by demonstrating the inclusiveness, respect, compassion, and grace that reflect the better angels of our nature.
Love wins. You can take that to the bank.