All the pundits are saying this is our 1964, that our loss this year is a signal that the Democratic Party needs to set itself about the task of building the kind of infrastructure it's going to take to build ourselves into the majority party that we actually are.
Kos and everyone else, this is OUR fight. WE are the basis of that infrastructure. And this blog proved its ability and efficacy at fundraising through the election campaign. Well, we don't have TV ads to drain our wallets anymore, but our incomes are pretty much constant.
It's time to pick a new Kos Dozen -- not candidates, but the organizations that we want to build into the new Democratic infrastructure. This blog raised $750,000 in three months. That's $3 mil a year. If we can start putting this kind of money into an infrastructure, and given the fact that money follows money, we WILL be the majority party.
Update [2004-11-4 11:5:57 by DC Pol Sci]: Harry Reid as the new minority leader? Just a symptom that the progessive wing needs to frame the debate within the party. Here's how we capture it.
I would also suggest a sustaining donation model on the order of NPR or DFA. If Kos will go for this, I'll start by pledging $50 per month. Anybody - even college students - should be able to afford $10.
My first suggestion for the New Kos Dozen? No surprise: George Lakoff's Rockridge Institute. What other organizations should be part of our effort to build a new progressive infrastructure?