In the last few weeks I have been active on DKos again after an absence of nearly two years. (Most of that time was spent online gaming, specifically a game called Cyber Nations. Funny how easily time gets away from you, eh?) My return has been somewhat less glorious than I might have liked. Where's marching band?
If you don't like "meta-diaries," don't bother to read on...
I drifted away from DKos for a couple of reasons. One was what I perceived as a lack of civility -- many people were very quick to label anyone they disagreed with as a "troll," for example. It was as if there was only a narrow band of ideological positions that were acceptable, and anything else was, well, off limits. I was also a little disappointed with what I considered to be an unwillingness to look at ourselves, our party, and our methods in a critical light. An unexamined life and all that.
I have to say, since my return it seems to have gotten worse. That narrow band seems to have gotten narrower. What I have discovered is that there are certain topics that are simply off-limits on Daily Kos.
For example, you can't criticize the sainted Nancy Pelosi. Frankly, I have always found the idolization of her to be puzzling. I've just never been that impressed. She has always struck me as rather fake, in a way that I recently described as being like "Prozac and plastic." (And BOY did I get excoriated for that! Just to clarify, I was not referring to her looks, but her manner.) I don't hate her or anything, I just don't see what is the big deal. Yes, she got HCR through Congress. But that law is itself controversial, to say the least, even among progressives. And in getting it passed we lost our majority in the House, and with it the chance to get anything else passed for at least two years, maybe more.
You also can't bring up the subject of raising the retirement age without summoning the unholy wrath of the Kossack community. This surprised me. Frankly, retirement age has never been an issue at the forefront of my mind. That said, I do find myself asking whether the idea of spending nearly a third of our lives in retirement is realistic or sustainable. If we are living longer and healthier lives than ever before, then isn't it reasonable to assume that our productive working lives should be longer too? Again, let me be clear: I'm not saying we absolutely HAVE TO raise the retirement age, but should it automatically be off the table? And should the mere mention of it be enough to trigger a tidal wave of vitriol?
And of course you cannot suggest that maybe Blue Dogs and moderate Democrats are a necessary part of a governing coalition. After our recent electoral rout, I got the distinct impression that some -- maybe even many -- progressives were actually kind of happy about the outcome, because it meant a more purely progressive Democratic caucus. Now, I'm pretty far to the left on most things. In fact, I'm probably what you'd call a socialist (pause for shocked gasps). But even I recognize that moderates and Blue Dogs are what put us over the top in 2006 and gave us a majority. As much as I might wish it to be otherwise, a truly progressive majority seems unlikely given our nation's political climate. A coalition of progressives and moderates is probably the best we can hope for. And yes, that means that we won't get everything we want. But we'll get some of it. Under Republican rule we will get none. Isn't some better than none?
We are a contentious group, that's for sure. And in our own way, we can be just as rigid and ideological as any Tea Partier. I've been over to Redstate and seen what goes on (well, for as long as I can stand it), and I can tell you that while the politics and policies are different, the attitudes are much the same. That's something I think we need to guard against. As is a shared tendency to lapse into a "my group, right or wrong" kind of mentality.
Eh, I guess I'm rambling here. I've been under the weather for the last few days, so I'm all whacked out on NyQuil and antibiotics. But I'm tired. I'm tired of the bickering and the snarkiness and the same old fights. I just think we could do better at living up to the "more and better Democrats" idea, instead of fewer and more narrowly defined.