So what's a "Democrat"?
I missed another one of these "I thought this was a progressive site"-"No, it's a Democratic Site" parties dkos likes to have and good thing too. But it did make me want to describe and even define who dailykos is "for". I'm not imposing myself as an authority, mind you, I have deduced this based on the stated standards and the historic line that lead us here. I am an informed observer, not creator of the standards from which I deduce this point.
Because it says right there in the FAQ: this is a Democratic blog. Not a progressive one.
My bias is it pains me to see that distinction drawn so often as if it is a clear distinction, we are THIS, and this is NOT THAT. Yet a Democratic blog IS a progressive one, among other things. Many of the people here are progressive, as a matter of fact.
And there is supposed to be some overlap, and progressive criticism is fitting to the goal. Democratic victory relies on the rallying cry that brung us, which I recall as the Dean motto, "The Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". We were those brave enough, intellectually, to oppose the war whether that was popular or even "treasonous", we have taken a bravely progressive tack, and this sort of thing was actively remembered to have been the
real spirit of the Democratic Party.
But I won't let my bias affect my definition of "Democrat" for the purpose of who should be considered appropriate participants.
For the purpose of DailyKos, as stated, I think there can be only one conclusion.
Anyone that finds themselves voting Democrat is a part of the debate we have here. If you vote Democrat, you ARE one, regardless of what you think about the politics involved, if you hate every single Democrat you've ever voted for, that still doesn't change the fact that you are a Democrat, for the purposes of this discussion. We want to "enable Democrats to win" then we have to embrace those that VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS, and there cannot be any other way about it. You cannot piss off people that vote for Democrats and pretend to be "helping" Democrats win... by letting progressives slip away. You can't say "they were a lost cause anyway" because they're voting for Democrats! A lost cause for what? To play kissy face to your favorite dem or to agree with you? What does that matter?
We cannot prefer members because they agree on a given issue nor because they are willing to fawn over any candidate regardless of who they are and what they stand for... that would be impossible, for one thing, because Democratic Politicians cover quite a wide and inconsistent spread in what they stand for. Further, we can't prefer people for their pre-concieved conclusions because then there is no dialog, and what is left of this enterprise if there is no dialog? The internet is not about monologue, not really. If then end up voting Democrat, that's the only pre-concieved conclusion that matters.
Anyone that votes Democrat is welcome. And the de facto standard, though this is less clear to me as to why it's ok, even include people that are planning to vote Democratic (e.g. born again Republicans become "liberal").
I'll close on the issue of the site being about "getting Democrats Elected"... can we just face fact that we don't know for certain how to do that? Those of you that want to control other people's diaries in order to "get Democrats elected" need to provide some sort of research to back up your idea that censoring a given message will "help Democrats get elected". That message may be just what is needed, or if not, perhaps the answers, the ideas to rebut that message might be what's needed.
Folk wisdom about it will not suffice.
In order for Democrats to win we will have to make specifically progressive criticisms of the party, that is, those progressives that happen to vote Democrat will have to make the criticism regarding where, from a progressive view, the Democratic Party falls short. Making such criticisms is called, "being part of the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party".
Criticizing the Democratic Party has not been shown to lessen their chances of victory... that may seem counter intuitive, but no, not at all... not when criticism is taken constructively. NOTE: it doesn't matter if the criticism is given constructively... only if it's taken constructively. And when it is taken constructively, the result is better chances.
In my opinion, if you VOTE Democrat, then you have the logical right to post here without some nut going all fairy tale on your ass calling you an elf, orc, or troll.
Pedants: Please note I said "logical right"... so I don't need a bunch of property rights philosophers channelling Ayn Rand lecturing me about the lack of a "legal rights" to do so.