It does appear as if things have kinda sorta settled into a holding pattern around here, doesn’t it? The election season is past, we’re entering a long and beautiful summer and, well, the bastards in Washington are still up to their old tricks. It’s enough to make anyone want to sit by the pool with a margarita and forget about everything for a while.
But that’s not us, is it? We’re here on a beautiful summer’s eve, ingesting flaccid pixels that enlighten us with regards to every dull facet of the political grist of the day. We truly are die-hards.
That’s why I’m so sure I’m addressing the right crowd. You, ladies and gentleman, are the one-one-hundredth of one percent of the country that actually have the dedication and will to change it for the better. Your influence far exceeds your numbers, and with good reason. You care. And we should all thank God for that. After all, you could flip the computer off and catch up with all the really important news of the day... How is Paris getting along, anyway?
Well, as much as I appreciate all of y’all, here I go again.
I email a lot of friends across the blogosphere. One of the biggest discussions (and longest lasting) revolves around our brittleness as a movement. We aren’t built to be sustainable. Sure, there’s the occasional Glenn Greenwald or Matthew Yglesias that is lucky enough to be hired and paid full-time to blog... There’s the Markos/Atrios model – blog well, work hard at building an audience over years, throw in some good timing and a little luck – that allows one to make a living running a blog... But for the most part, if you’re looking to be paid for the 50-60 hours you might spend every week doing research, writing posts and managing comments... well, don’t expect much return at all.
Don’t believe me? Ask Taylor Marsh. Ask the crew at FireDogLake. At MyDD. SadlyNo! Digby. Any number of others... These people all show remarkable commitment and skill, and for the most part, they are paying money out of their own pockets to keep your computer screen lit up with engaging, informative and insightful posts.
And that’s a damn shame.
But that’s the state of our movement, and the subject of this post.
You see, lack of support for bloggers is just one facet of the shaky foundation we find ourselves precariously perched upon. Glenn Greenwald’s first book was a New York Times best seller. You might think that’d earn him some cred with those that book TV and radio shows... It might even get his second book reviewed by a newspaper or two, no?
Well, have you seen him on Good Morning America? I saw Ann Coulter – they pimped the release of her last book in paperback... but come to think of it... no... I didn’t dee Glenn.
There isn’t a political cognizant in America that isn’t aware of how successful last year’s YearlyKos convention was. Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer, Howard Dean... They all came, they spoke, they engaged, and they went on to take back the Congress in November...
You’d think sponsors would be climbing over each other in their efforts to secure the best floor space and branding opportunities... And you’d be thinking wrong...
The nation is surging blue in a really big way, progressives dominate the internet space, everyone seems to agree that on-line video is the next step in the evolution of digital politics... Man, folks like those at BraveNewFilms must be fending off all the angel investors trying to force money on them, right? Wrong.
The truth is that the only way this movement is going to be sustained is if we commit to sustaining it ourselves.
It’s great that so many thousands of us are passionate enough about our politics to donate a few dollars here and there to our favorite political candidates. I don’t want to diminish the importance of that generosity, because it is important. Really important. In fact, I can think of only one thing more important: taking care of your own.
We need to buy Greenwald’s book.
We need to order our copies of UnConventional and support YearlyKos.
BraveNewFilms has launched a new site; they are taking a chance on us, and they need us to come through for them. We need to support them in their fundraiser and make sure their innovative work continues. (full disclosure: Cliff Schecter just brought me on as a front-pager. I will be working with them, and it looks like for the first time, I may be compensated (in a very small way – certainly less than a "living-wage") for my efforts.)
Right now, this movement is like a new-born foal... We’re tottering along on spindly legs, and praying every day that we can continue a growth trajectory that pushes the entire country towards the progressive agenda. Similar to political campaigns, the importance of early money cannot be overstated. It’s the seed from which all of our success will grow.
One last comment: anyone that’s spent anytime thinking about investing is familiar with the term ROI (return on investment). Put simply, you can send $100 to your favorite politician’s campaign. That politician will most likely spend it on one of three things: staff (consultants), direct mail, or television ads.
If it goes to consultants... well, I think we all feel pretty much the same way about that crew. Somebody advised Democratic politicians that it’d be a good thing to cave to Bush and have an endless war. And it wasn’t us. Nobody in the progressive movement had anything at all to do with that decision...
If it goes to direct mail, then I’d ask myself who I thought might be more effective: a blogger/writer that may be read by tens of thousands of people or seen on television by millions, or a flimsy piece of cardboard stock stuck between credit card offers and supermarket flyers?
If it goes to tv ads, well, again, first it goes to tv commercial makers. We all know how much they’ve sucked over the years. But then it goes to ABC/Disney (the people that aired the propaganda hit piece "Path to 9/11")... or General Electric (owners of NBC and the largest defense contractor on earth)... or Viacom (Chaired by Sumner redstone who famously said he had to vote for Bush because he’d be friendlier to the media business)... At any rate, these are your dollars that end up in the hands of truly marginal, if not despicable, people.
So the next time you’re about to send $100 to a politician, well, give some thought to whether or not it will do more good growing the progressive movement from the grassroots up... I think it would.