The last few months, my time to diary on Daily Kos hasn’t been as active as I was in 2014, 2015. It isn’t that I am disenchanted, it is just time is sometimes divided. This weekend, I’ll be spending time traveling to South Dakota for their state meeting and working with their local activists.
What we’ve discovered is that there is a lot of work to be done in making our party and our efforts better.
On a day to day basis, when I check back in with progressive sites, and not just Daily Kos, we run into a buzz saw of a debate of party leadership, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and so on.
How much time do Republicans devote, whether in the White House or not, debating who is the “spiritual leader” of their party? I’ve got to tell you, I have never, not in 30 years, run into that kind of soul searching discussion. While they may all admire Republican leaders, they focus on who is running at the moment.
I’ve seen more debate about candidates and leadership from people who: (a) don’t live in the district and therefore are not a direct voter for a candidate and (b) just oppose whoever the other person is for whatever reason.
So, I’m going to just say this in a simple diary: STOP. Look around. Spring and fall elections are around us in New Jersey, Virginia, and elsewhere. August referendums in Cities come up all over the country. There are things you can do, right now, that can help your local, state and the national party.
But the most important thing is local. What is happening local to you. If you live in Virginia, let’s hear about your delegate candidate. New Jersey, let’s see what is going on. You have a special election near you, let’s go.
But navel gazing about spiritual identity of a party while Trump proposes nonsense and local elections and institutions languish is EASY. It can be done with minimal effort but work on a keyboard to get some digital self-reward.
Right now there are races all over the country you could contribute positively to you. Losses inspire us to re-evaluate, but that cannot go on to the point that candidates running right now and elections happening right now suffer.
So, STOP, take a breath. A party isn’t a cult built around any personality, no matter who it is. A party isn’t built on what happens somewhere else. Parties are built on wins and losses local to where you participate, from city councils all the way to the Governor in your state and everything in between.
As I pack to leave tomorrow, I’m thinking: damn, would I love one day to come to Daily Kos and see the REC list dominated by whatever is going on in state legislatures, right now. Or Montana’s special. Or stories by activists in any state about whatever issue they are working on.
Which would be far more relevant to winning than a discussion of meta attacks, spiritual leadership, party mentalities or whatever of candidates you can’t vote for or leadership that you will almost never interact with.
JMHO, on a cranky Thursday.