Written for the Daily Kos Community and readers of the NPI Official Blog
Yesterday, I posted a diary entitled, "Local Politics Matter: Netroots Prepares for Initiative Fight" which subsequently made it onto the Daily Kos Recommended List for a few hours.
The diary concerned our efforts to create a stronger, more empowered progressive community through Pacific Northwest Portal, a website which we created to tie the region together and provide reality based news and viewpoints.
But it mainly concerned an initiative that is apparently headed for Washington State's ballot this fall: Initiative 912, which repeals a big part of the recently enacted transportation package to fund improvements.
I learned yesterday that that a significant part of my diary was read on air by one of the talk show hosts I mentioned in it - John Carlson.
Carlson was apparently unhappy with what I said, and was sarcastically reading part of my diary live, on air, to his conservative audience.
He was railing against a "high powered, well financed campaign by the establishment to thwart the will of the people."
More on the flip...
A "high powered, well financed campaign by the establishment to thwart the will of the people."
Now, I didn't hear John's exact words...and it's unclear to me whether John himself considers us to be part of "the establishment."
I talked to John early this morning, and he says that he knows the difference between "the grassroots left" and "titans" like labor unions and big business.
But he certainly didn't hesitate to describe us as the first strikers - the "shock troops", out first in force, preceding the full fledged campaign funded and fought by bsuiness, labor, and other interests.
Well, John, we are the grassroots. This is NPI's mission:
We will work as a forum for positive thought, an oasis for the promotion of peace and freedom, a warning against corruption and ignorance, and a light for others.
NPI is about positive change in America. We're the ones fighting the current administration. We're not just activists, either - we're intellectuals, who genuinely care about wanting good public policy.
That's what the Northwest Progressive Institute is about. And one of our major projects, (and the most successful so far) is Pacific Northwest Portal, which we continue to improve and maintain.
At first, I was surprised that Carlson read my Daily Kos diary on air. We know that he knows about our own blogs - but being able to pick out a diary on Daily Kos?
But the more I thought about it, the more I wasn't surprised. The other side is quietly watching this community - watching which diaries we Kossacks decide to recommend, and watching the front page.
Carlson likes to think of himself as "a crusader", waging a David-versus-Goliath battle. Please. Carlson is part of the Goliath - the titantic Republican Noise Machine.
NPI, for its part, isn't well financed, it's all volunteers - unlike their think tanks - the Discovery Institute, the Washington Policy Center and the Evergreen Freedom Foundation - all locally based, and with plenty of resources, including money.
So who's the establishment, John? Who's got the think tanks? It's your side. You're part of the local media "establishment", and yet you're railing against one.
WE are the grassroots, the netroots. We're as independent as they come. We're not owned by some corporate media parent (John Carlson's station, KVI, is owned by Fisher Broadcasting, which gets about $139 million in ad revenues annually, by the way) and we're not "well financed". Nobody's paying us to do anything.
We are involved because we care. We don't want to see Washington's transportation network fall into disrepair.
We understand how important it is to replace the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle and the aging, vulnerable 520 floating bridge across Lake Washington.
We also understand this transportation package pays for hundreds of other projects across the state, not just in Seattle - many are safety improvements. New guardrails, passing lanes, replacing bridges on rural highways, etc.
Carlson & Co. hate the transportation package and want it repealed. I'm not sure what they think is going to keep our transportation infrastructure in good shape. "Market forces"? "Charity"? "Private investments"?
The answer, of course, is none of the above.
The only thing that can keep our transportation infrastructure in good shape is government. Specifically, WSDOT, which is our state government's transportation arm.
Carlson and others like him love to viciously attack government and want to tear it down.
To them, it can be blamed for almost everything. And if there isn't something to specifically attack, like a specific agency or project, then they're always making the argument that government isn't accountable enough, that money is always wasted, that individuals can spend their money better than the government can.
I got involved in politics in the first place because I was sick and tired of hearing this completely ridiculous garbage.
Government isn't evil. The government is OUR government. It's for the people, of the people, and by the people.
Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party, once said:
The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do for themselves in their seperate and individual capacities.
(1854)
And Honest Abe was right. He meant that one of the important purposes of government is to provide essential services that make community life possible and promote the general welfare.
Our government undertakes projects that individuals could not or would not do on their own. That's the point of this transportation package the Legislature just passed.
Well, apparently John Carlson didn't get Lincoln's message.
We're fighting against Initiative 912 because we believe our state should have a solid transportation infrastructure. Initiative 912 is a backwards step that we shouldn't be taking.
And we have an uphill fight. Joni Balter, writing in the Seattle Times (another piece Carlson read on air) said:
Voters will opt for short-term relief knowing projects only increase in cost over time because of the many things they cannot control in their lives. Most folks never get to vote on rising insurance premiums, higher food or electricity costs. Offered a chance to control something like gas prices, they will do it.
Initiative 912 doesn't provide "relief", though. It provides anger and apathy and a signal that we don't trust our elected representatives to make decisions for us.
Voting down this transportation package is going to be very appealing to many people. People don't always think realistically and with the future in mind. This isn't just true of folks in Washington State, either.
Carlson can read my diaries on air if he wants, but I've asked him to have me on his show directly so I can refute what he saying, live and on the air, to his own audience.
Whether he extends me that courtesy is up to him. I know one thing: we're going to keep on fighting on.