Communication suppression is the most effective tool in the Republican arsenal to direct
public policy when they are in the minority. This is a tactic widely recognized on
news channel-round-table-discussions like crossfire or any number of CNN political debate shows back in the day. All of these purported venues for honest debate eventually devolved into pie fights to the point that most people got tired of watching.
Every child knows how to deflect rational discussion about why they may or may not be
allowed to do something that they may or may not want to do. Ultimately, the weapon they use on you is shame. In order to use shame well you can't have any. In other words, in order to win you must be shameless.
They mostly deflect by comparison:" Johnny's parents let him....what's wrong with you?" Shaming you may be accompanied by a little complexity smashing. "You let big sister do it, why can't I" Well, you know big sister is ten years older so of course the little shit head can't smoke cigarettes. But, now you have to get into an arcane discussion about how you are his guardian until he doesn't think like a child anymore. And, how he will hate you later on in life if you let him get away with murder now. And, he just wants what he wants because he is really staging a primal challenge that you must address to maintain the proper family dynamic of the adults being in charge. The stark reality is that if you let this insurrection slide, you may destroy your ability to keep really bad things from happening to the entire family.
Some people can have these complicated discussions and are revered by their children as great teachers instead of as tyrants. However, if you are not eloquent, you may be in for years of guerrilla warfare over every petty little thing. The easiest thing to do is play Hitler. Notice here that playing Hitler is something the Republicans do very well. Right and wrong are irrelevant when they are in charge. When they are not in charge, every little thing is a piss fight. Every honest discussion devolves into an argument about irrelevant details. Substance is avoided at all cost, a tactic that is designed to defuse eloquent oratory.
Now, here I am a Daily Kos diarist. And, every time I post a diary there is almost zero
discussion about the substance of my post. I posted a piece about street violence that
turned into a discussion about film. I posted a bit about the irony of how people are dying because the NRA is playing politics instead of doing it's job, and all some of you could talk about was the harshness of a Yiddish word that most people don't even know the meaning of. It's one bizarre forest-for-the-trees objection after another. It makes me wonder if this is nothing more than communication suppression by Republican infiltrators.
There are several Right wing websites in this country, and only one progressive one. Do the math.
My question to the old timers at Daily Kos is how often have you heard this complaint? Does it happen frequently enough that this kind of post has a special name to classify it? I've heard people lament that Dkos ain't what it used to be. Is this true or is it just the sour grapes of the disaffected? Whether something is broken or not is always a matter of perspective.
Having said this, I implore all of you true believers out there who might be frustrated with this community to stick around. Like it or not, Daily Kos still does a lot of things very, very well.