I remember a time when I posted a Diary everyday on this site and some of them made a difference in helping to defeat this or that Republican weasel with deep ties to the Abramoff scandal. That was back in 2005-2006 and the goal of Progressives and Democrats of all stripes was to defeat Bush and the GOP. We were united. And we won.
In 2007 and 2008 our unity began to fray in the intensity of the Primary battles as we advocated for favorite candidates and issues. Still, once the General Election season began we unified and won again.
Since then, unity on our side has been downgraded. For some it is still the most important thing, for others it has been downgraded to only occasionally important and for others it has become a 'dirty' word: the shameful utterance one hears from Obots and corporate sell-outs.
As President Obama took office the fight for control of the Progressive movement and Democratic agenda was well under way and the notion of unity became a threat to all the factions fighting for control.
And just as we abandon unity as a virtue, the Republicans embraced it with gusto.
To the jump...
The Republicans had a simple unifying strategy: just say no and STOP OBAMA. All factions on their side could unify around that simple message just as all factions of our side unified around electing Democrats in 2006. By 2008 the coalition we put together was already starting to fragment because governing and passing legislation tends to push special interests to the front and unity to the back.
By the time President Obama started trying to pass his agenda, unity among us became harder to achieve—just as unity among Republicans became rock solid. Now the Republican coalition will face the same natural fragmenting that our 2006 coalition has been facing, but they key to any victory from here on out—legislative, policy or electoral—will be which Party/movement does the best job of being unified.
If we do not relearn how to unify we will continue to be disappointed by outcomes and all of the issues on a progressive agenda—or even a traditional Democratic agenda—will continue to suffer defeats.
And we have two basic choices on what we can do next:
Choice One: Unity First
We can relearn how to push unity to the front and temper the desire by our many factions for their most important issue to trump unity (and anything else).
Or
Choice Two: Unity Later
We can continue to have the battle over what issue in the progressive agenda should be first in line and what tactics and strategies should be used to pass legislation and or win the day for that issue.
The sad truth is that most of the Diaries and fights that have devolved into pissing matches have been fights between folks advocating for Choice One or Choice Two as the best way forward. The recent meta Diaries that I play off of by Cenk Uyger and deaniac83 are about this fight between Unity Later (Cenk's position) and Unity First (deaniac83 position).
The trouble with Choice Two and Unity Later is that it invites an endless number of other battles once you embrace that path. Now you have to fight with everybody else on that path about which issue should be first and which strategy is best and which tactics will work to get that goal done. These regular fights about the endless possible choices down of the Unity Later path seem to be the source of most Diaries and comments these days.
From where I sit, Choice Two is a fool's errand. One can not delay unity and then think that your divided coalition will be successful. I admit that I have lost patience for those who advocate for the tangled thickets of that swamp over unity. I am especially intolerant of those voices who actively promote disunity as a progressive 'virtue'.
I think that rediscovering Unity is the most important thing that we can do now. I think we should unite—as we did in 2005-2006—and that stopping the Republicans and their agenda should be enough of a reason for all of us to do that.
We have the White House. We have the Senate and we have smart and courageous leaders like Speaker Pelosi in the House. The 111th Congress has been the most progressive Congresses in over 45 years and has a long, long list or real accomplishments that we should be proud of as we roll up our sleeves to build upon these legislative victories in the coming months and years. This Congress will add to those successes before the year ends. In the 112th Congress we will still be powerful—especially if we are united.
Our energy and focus should be on unity. This is not an easy task. It is hard and it requires persistence, tolerance and patience. It requires getting the backs of our elected folks and finding common ground in our coalition to win the battles that are ahead—even at those moments when our favorite issue, tactic and/or strategy is not leading the parade. .
And yet, there are these voices on our side like Cenk and Big Ed (just to name a couple) who would rather that we spend our time fighting with each other. In their view, the only time to work on unity is once the purge over issues, tactics and strategy is complete. Sorry, but this is just Tea Party stupid.
We have tried Choice Two, the Unity Later approach, for the last two years. It did not work and it never does. The results were defeat at the polls and many important items on our agenda are left undone and many successes of the last two years are now under threat. The entire 'my issues and/or ideas first' thing is a proven failure.
Years ago I believed Howard Dean when he said "You have the power". He was right and he still is. Each of us does have power and the responsibility to use it. Each of us is responsible for how united or disunited our coalition is and by extension how successful it is. And when our unity breaks down it is the responsibility of all of us, from President Obama on down, to accept that each of us had a hand in that, repair the breach and work to get things back on track. Disunity in the face of an organized, well-funded, unified opposition is not a winning idea. Unity Later does not work.
The good news is that we have also tried Choice One Unity First and it works great (the Republicans just re-proved that the other night).
If we relearn how to put unity first—as we did in 2006—then we will win again in 2012 and beyond. And we will continue to have victories on the issues that we care about.
United we stand and divided we fall is repeated often because it is true.
I do not know about you, but this Disunity thing has not worked out for me, my Party, my Nation or progress on the issues that I care about.
I, like each of you, have the power to change that. We have done it before and we can do it again. This is a choice each of us gets to make.
What do you choose?
Cheers