I'm sure that most folks here are tired of the whole controversy over Kos' post earlier this week, and the "Democrat Party" one from yesterday, and many perspectives have been given. But with no small amount of trepidation, I would like to offer one that I didn't see elaborated in any of the postings (or perhaps I just missed it in the sheer volume).
I found dKos a few days after the election when trying to find an explanation for the exit polls that I could understand and believe. Although I had come across some blogs before, my general opinion of them was that bloggers were using the net as a vehicle for narcissism.
This site seemed different, and seemed to exemplify the slogan "political analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation". I found that I spent increasing amounts of time here, while following the news/information/thoughts about the election irregularities. I stayed to listen...learn...and think.
Somewhere in the past two months my buried political activism came back to me in full force, and I found myself writing letters, making phone calls, emailing Senators, and doing a lot of political talking to friends that I hadn't done in over 30 years.
One of the things that kept me here and kept me increasing my active involvement was the intelligent, thoughtful, respectful and tolerant discourse provided by the vast majority of posters. While there were some shrill, whining voices on a variety of subjects (not just the Ohio vote), it was easy to ignore those postings and move on to the reasoned postings. Yes, I was one who hoped that fraud could be proven, but not one to jump to conclusions. Georgia10 in particular has my greatest respect for the incredible amount and breadth of her work, as do many other folks who did solid work on pulling together the facts about the Ohio election, and expressed themselves so well.
The folks who posted the breaking news on so many fronts were so good that if I only had a few minutes to scan some news on my computer, I came here first (rather than my "old" habit of the Google front news page). I realized after a while that it was not quite "correct" for someone to post breaking news without commentary, but in many cases was very glad that they did it, where I may have missed it if depending on the MSM.
I really felt that I had discovered, after all these years, a community of people that I was comfortable with - that I could hope to discuss basic political issues and those of personal political interest with. What an incredible thing! I haven't been able to feel that way since college - which was far too long ago...
Which started me contemplating the internet as finally coming into its own as a vehicle for social and political change. I've had computers since 1984 (an original Mac) and have fully embraced the conveniences of the net, participating in the early eBay explosion and found that finally, this past Christmas season, I was able to do all of my shopping, except for visits to small local stores, by online shopping - not one trip to the mall! Opportunity, freedom from large retailers...
And when Google News went beta, a chance to see all of the world's news through the eyes of the world. Unbelievable. A new perspective.
And on to dKos, where I started realizing for the first time that there is a potential on the net to finally bring people together in a way that has never been possible before. Sort of the Yin to the dark Yang side of potential electronic political fraud. And certainly the first time that massive numbers of people can communicate with each other quickly enough to focus attention and activism on issues as they are happening. The Ohio electoral vote challenge - does anyone here really think that it would have happened without the high volume of phone calls and emails that Senators received as a result of net communications (especially the emails <grin>).
I honestly did not realize - forgive me for being uninformed and naïve - that this site was only for members of the Democratic Party. I am registered Independent, because in my small town that allows me to either work with or criticize both Republicans or Democrats on a variety of issues and public works, and to further my own agenda of improving the educational system, especially as it does not work for gifted kids (our country's best hope) and to promote critical thinking skills. All of my "extra" time and energy has been devoted in the past few years to First Lego League and a weekly Games club (chess and MTG) for teens that I run to further that end.
I am unabashedly liberal and vote Democrat, but am not about to register for any party in this town - that would hamper my effectiveness.
I also have a long memory, and have seen too many things happen in my lifetime that no rational person would have thought was possible before the fact, from the assassination of JFK to the terrorist attacks on the WTC. Ten years ago, if someone had described to you what our country would look like today, and the events of the past ten years, you most likely would have dismissed them as shrill nutcases who had been reading too much science fiction and espionage books. And so I am willing to at least give a fair hearing to a far out theory - sadly, some of them eventually prove true. I've also seen proven that the loudest and noisiest left (the Black Panthers, Radical Feminists) did much to move our country to the "more acceptable center" (Martin Luther King, equal pay for women - well, sort of, but a hell of a lot better than what we had before).
I've also seen the power of the many with a single goal - the end of the Vietnam war - accomplish that goal.
There are so many wonderful things happening on this site, and there is the potential here to change the world. Right now, the rational discussions happening here are refining issues, sowing seeds, and building a new revolution in communication. That may not have been the intention, but it is the reality. I think that I've read here that about 10,000 people have registered here in the past couple of months - and that's only the registered users, not the lurkers, who probably number many thousand more.
It seems that despite the adversity, the tone and the coarse language of the past week, there are so many things in common that everyone here seems to believe and be willing to work for, basic concepts that we can all agree on - and then work out the contentious details:
* Each American has the right to vote, and to have their vote be counted
* We want clean air and clean water
* Americans are also citizens of the world
* Social Security is an insurance policy
* No draft
* Torture is wrong, wrong, wrong
* Many etc.
I don't think that I'm unique - with the explosion of growth on the site since the election, I imagine that many new and quiet people are here under the same false pretenses that I am. It would seem that the ideal scenario when pushing for social/political change would be to have a venue that educates, communicates, and activates people who otherwise would not be exposed to the information, interaction, and organization of change - and are not necessarily members of the Party.
Is this that venue? Will it grow to be? Do you want to just talk about change or make change happen by bringing like minded people together?
Pull us in? Or push us out?