Daily Kos is a failure. Although it is a vibrant blog community, the logic of its founder has failed the test of political reality. The central assumption of Markos Moulitsas is simply unsound:
This is a Democratic blog, a partisan blog. One that recognizes that Democrats run from left to right on the ideological spectrum, and yet we're all still in this fight together.
The rapid-fire capitulations of the (majority) Democratic Congress in the matters of ending the Iraq War, investigating administration misdeeds, and enabling formerly illegal domestic spying have confirmed that "electing Democrats" does not result in Progressive reform. We are demonstrably NOT "in this fight together." The Democratic party officeholders have repeatedly shown that they will vote against the majority sentiment of the American people. Netroots-supported candidates, like Jim Webb, have voted for repugnant legislation at the command of BushCo. This diary examines why Daily Kos has failed and what options exist for Progressives seeking to effect change.
The Central Error
It's a Democratic blog with one goal in mind: electoral victory.
This one goal is a classic statement of tunnel vision. The notion that securing the accession to power of a single political party would achieve the progressive transformation of US society is dubious at best, and has been clealy discredited by the shameful performance of the new "netroots" Democratic Congressional representives.
Very few people came to DKos purely to elect Democrats. They came to discuss how to enable a progressive agenda, with the assumption that Democrats are much more likely to support this agenda than Republicans. Markos and his TR-bearing Guardians of Correctness argue that there is nothing wrong that more Democrats can't cure, and if more Democrats doesn't fix it, then different Democrats are required. Never is the essence of the Democratic Party defined. It is always assumed to be the Un-Bad party, the opposite of everything wrong with Republicans.
But let's examine the validity of the desired end-state. Let's say that, through the magic of the Interwebs, a Democratic President is elected and every single seat in the House and Senate is occupied by Democrats. Would this usher in an era of Progressive reform? OF COURSE NOT.
As long as costly TV advertising is the key to electoral victory, corporations and wealthy individuals will dominate the selection of Democratic office-holders. Increased fuel economy standards were stripped from the pending energy bill by a Democratic Congressman with a safe seat because the standards would harm a major corporate supporter.
Rupert Murdoch is now contributing money to future Democratic President Hillary Clinton. Clinton says that this will not affect her treatment of Murdoch's media empire. This is an incredible claim. Yet Kossacks will walk the streets ringing doorbells to elect Clinton believing they are working for reform.
I've been reading and posting on DKos for two years, and I have watched the community grow in size and sophistication, but its hopes have been frustrated because its mission is unsound. One cannot achieve progressive reform of US Society in the current era by "electing Democrats." Simply put, Markos Moulitsas is dead wrong about what this blog can accomplish, and each day that Congress is in session brings us fresh proof of that.
What is to be done?
Internet progressive reform has been blocked and checked because it has tried to follow existing channels of political action. But this course gives every advantage to the entrenched power elite. The American Plutocracy has worked for 50 years to secure control of the US Government. It is in a position analogous to a small army controlling a narrow pass. Even a very large force attempting to push its way through will be blocked and delayed interminably. The US Congress is a bottleneck and a choke point that is controlled by the Plutocracy. Pushing Progressive reform through this body is a fool's errand. With high-priced lobbyists and their purchased Representatives and Senators sniping at every turn and slipping wording changes into undocumented markups of bills rushed through at midnight, reformers simply don't stand a chance.
The answer is for Progressives to flow around the bottleneck and attack the enemy from the flanks and the rear. You can't beat Rupert Murdoch on the floor of the Congress that he owns. You can beat him by taking on News Corporation in the marketplace. You can't beat Lockheed Martin on the floor of the Congress that they own. You can beat them through public exposure of their corruption. You can't beat the credit card industry on the floor of the Congress that they own. You can beat them through citizen boycotts.
In short, the correct path for Progressive reform is direct action against the agents of corruption and misrule, not replacement of their political hirelings. Hillary Clinton welcomes money from the Plutocracy that controls our country and says that she will not be swayed by their wishes. Is this how "electing Democrats" will save the day? I think not.
Prominent Internet Progressives, like Cindy Sheehan, Glenn Greenwald, and Lawrence Lessig are shifting from party politics to direct action strategies. I have reached the same conclusion and will no longer post on DKos. Markos Moulitsas deserves great credit for nurturing and sustaining a vibrant blog community based on shrewdly chosen enabling software. History will record DKos as an important early political phenomenon in the infancy of the Blogosphere. But I believe that history will also render the verdict that the narrow political mission of DKos failed to achieve significant Progressive reforms.