I'm going to be honest and say I that I have to get this out.
We preach to the choir too much while the church around us burns down. Now some may complain about making that comparision but I think it is apt.
That goes for anybody. Pro-Obama. Anti-Obama. Third party people. Whatever. We are just sitting here and talking and arguing to ourselves while everything goes to shit around us. Talking over one another instead of getting out there and actually changing the narrative to the issues that matter to us. This is not to say that Dailykos isn't a great avenue of progressive thought or can't clarify issues through argument or debate. This is not even a full indictment to those who go out everyday and work hard to improve their communities and use DK as a way to also organize effectively.
But I have been troubled the last few weeks, days, and hours in watching the debate turn into "We're all screwed. Forget about it." Or being angry at voters for voting the way they did. Or being defeatist in the face of enormous odds.
But mostly, I must say, the thing I am bothered with the most is how much we talk to ourselves. We talk to other progressives. Vent to other progressives. Complain about Dems. Complain about how awful Obama is. Complain about how screwed up Washington is.
But we are just talking to the choir. It is everyone else out in the world that needs to hear it. That need to understand the issues. That need to have these things brought to them in a good way. Trash talking about the president might make you feel good. Great, but has it gotten the agenda you wanted any further? Are you any closer to climate change? A good healthcare bill? Stopping the war? Improving society?
Defending the President and Congress against "purity police" or "haters" can feel like accomplishment, but does that address the troubles of our times? Does it make government work better?
We have forgotten how to advocate. We don't know the first thing about working for real change. We expect the government to do it for us and get pissy and complain when it doesn't happen. It's more than giving money and pushing for your candidate to win. It's not that easy. We need that same sense of urgency about the issues as we did about getting these people elected. The same busting of our asses. The same drive and determination as if in the morning Sarah Palin was going to be the President of the United States. That is what makes change.
Guess what? Don't work like that. We have lackluster Dems because we have a lackluster radicals. If Obama isn't LBJ then we damn sure aren't the Civil Rights Movement.
I'll just lay it out there. The people we elect are only as good as we are. Are only are righteous as we force them to be. And only as good as we advocate. Obama right now is pushing for something a lot of people around here said we wanted in terms of the banking industry and what have we done to support it?
Nothing. Nada. Zilch. You think Martin Luther King Jr would be setting around complaining about the President when the president is pushing for what he wants? You think Martin wouldn't have gotten a lot of folks together to make Obama see it through and kept his promise? You think Martin wouldn't have had people marching, calling in, mailing, and the like in support? Not for the President but for the agenda?
It's not about Obama. It never was about him. It's about the issues. It's about fighting for what we want. It's about not complaining about how much Obama has disappointed us. It's not venting about how all of our congress people are bought and sold by companies as if that hasn't been the truth for most of our countries history? They've always been brought or sold by somebody. That's a politician's nature. This is no sudden trend that just happened in 2009.
The church is burning and we are arguing about the fucking pastor!
Those civil rights marchers who faced dogs. Who faced lynch mobs. Who faced an entire system that was against them didn't let the church burn down. Didn't move because JFK or LBJ said to move. Didn't wait for newspapers or evening news to get the memo. Didn't much care if LBJ was friendly with them or not or invited them to the WH.
They empowered themselves as citizens and then got other citizens to do it too. This is the very nature of change. There is no congress, President, or party bigger than us if we put our mind to it. If it's important enough we don't leave it up to Pelosi. We don't leave it up to Reid. We don't even leave it up to Obama.
We've leave it up to ourselves. We are the ones we've been waiting for. That's why there is a Daily Kos in the first place. People power. People using government as way for social change. Electing Democrats is only the first part of the mission. Moving them into the right direction is the hard part. Is the fight. But it is something we have to do to save the church from burning down.
Please forgive any course language but I really really had to get that out. Agree or flame if you want. I'm open to all of it.