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From the diaries -- kos)
Brothers and sisters, we are all together in this struggle. Kos and the front page pastors have preached up a storm, and the amen chorus sure sounds great. But friends, the time has come to leave the tent revival. We need to shuck our robes, roll up our sleeves, and go out to toil in the fields of our fellow men (no, I don't mean in the icky "Martix" way).
In my diary, Making Community I talked about the importance of dKos. I also talked about how it's not enough and how we are getting our holy behinds handed to us by Republicans who don't know a blog from a bagel. (But then, you didn't read that diary anyway, did you? That's a shame, because I put a lot of work into it. Go read.)
Now it's time to ring the bell. Sunday School is dismissed, boys and girls.
Time for service.
Pixels are not enough
Here's where I get really blunt (I'll post a message below, for those itchin' to hit the old troll rating): if all you're doing is hanging out at dailyKos, you're worthless. Oh, all right, maybe you're not worthless as a human being, but you're worthless to the cause. We already have 30,000 members of the me too chorus, thank you.
If you want to advance the cause of the party and the progressive movement you have to get off your ass. Was that too blunt? Not sorry. Get up, get out, and do something. If you feel like you're too busy/shy/whatever to do something yourself, then give your money to people who will.
Oh, and when you whine about how the people who did get up and do something spent your money, don't be surprised if somewhere they're making the "world's smallest violin" motion for you. As long as you're not anything but a source of a few dollars, why should they listen to you anyway? Sure, you might scream on the Internet, but everyone screams on the Internet.
Not to sound too much like your mom, but get off that damn computer and go outside (as soon as you finish reading this diary).
Join Everything, Run Everywhere
You want our valiant progressive movement to take over this party and deliver it from the ranks of mediocre idiots currently running things. Cool. Funny thing is, they're not scared of you. Why? Well, for one thing, you're still sitting in front of your computer. Second thing is, they've got the power. What have you got?
Hopefully, what we have on our side is energy, aggressiveness, and desire. We have to want this party bad enough to take it from the people who already have it, before we can use the party to bludgeon the Republicans to death. This means joining your local Democratic organizations. This means showing up on Tuesday night for rubber chicken at the Democratic Club dinners. This means sitting through interminable committee meetings and budget meetings. This means getting onto the board of your local ambulance district and fire district, and slopping BBQ sauce over chicken while standing in a parking lot.
Too boring for you? You're too busy? Hooray, cry the demons of mediocrity. They win again.
If you will not do these things to take control of the party, how do you expect to take control of the country? You can't even get your local party out of the hands of the regulars, because they want it more than you do. The Republicans are working their tails off right this second, getting ready for 2006. If you expect to sit around for the next year and a half, then toss a little effort in come election season, they'll not only win, they'll deserve to win. They want it more than you.
Make yourself uncomfortable
I'm anti-social. No, not one of those "faba beans and a nice Chianti" kind of sociopaths, just one of the run of the mill types who would rather be parked in front of phosphors than confronting someone flesh and blood.
Now, I'm not as crazy as some. Whenever I see that fear of public speaking tops the fear of dying, I realize that there are a lot of people out there more nuts than me. If it kept me from dying, I'd deliver daily briefings from the UN podium in front of all four networks. Naked. But given the choice, I'll sit home and vege.
I 'm not doing that. Neither should you.
Instead, I'm being more social that I like. I'm being more vocal than usual. I'm being in places and doing things that I find awkward and uncomfortable. I've joined my local Democratic Club, and I'm making it a point to make a brief speech at every meeting.
Next week, I will march into the local school board office and put my name down as a candidate for election. Then I will start going door to door. It is my intention to visit the home of every single person in the district. Even the ones that have "God loves George Bush" signs in the front yard. Especially the ones with the Bush signs.
I'm also trying to get on a couple of other boards and lobbying for a spot in the local party hierarchy. You know what? I may not win the election, but I'll bet you I get the spot with the party. Because I want it that much.
Break out, and break bread
One last admonition, and if you've made it through the others without rushing straight down to deliver that "0," you'll certainly stand for this one: make some friends out there.
Your friends at dKos are comfortable. They clean up after themselves, they leave whenever you turn away from the screen, and even the four-letter trash scrolls away by morning.
Go make some friends who are less easy to deal with. Go find some retired Democratic state house member, or a crotchety committeeperson, or the leader of a local union. Take them to lunch.
Be a good primate. Share food.
You'll be amazed how much you'll learn about your own party and your own local community when you sit down across a table from someone who's been fighting this fight for decades. Maybe you'll find out they're not such idiots as you thought. Maybe you'll find out that they're on the same side as you. Maybe you'll find ways to work together to turn this thing around.
Now go on. Be a Democrat.