First, this diary is not intended to restart the meta war of the past few days. Quite the opposite.
I've been at Daily Kos a long time. If there was any single diarist who brought me here it was Eve. Universal health care was my number one issue. Eve put a human face on that issue, something I had not seen before.
During the health care reform debate, I ran into so many "no public option, no deal" comments I felt alone on the main site. One day I found Black Kos. The people there felt the way I did about health care reform. Also, Black Kos was close knit and they welcomed me. That's when Daily Kos started to feel like a community to me.
In recent months, I have stopped by another community diary series "The Evening Blues" from time to time and have been made to feel welcome.
Last July, I wrote a diary "Building Bridges on Daily Kos."
Why did I write that diary? When the TTFN's started, I wondered what the hell is going on. Was the other side of the divide really that bad people had to leave? That's when I began to read more diaries and comments and made up my own mind and wrote that diary.
When Black Kos people mention we don't have many people of color and why, I listen because I think it is important to try and remedy this. I may not understand it all since I'm not a person of color. But I listen because I think it is important. The Democratic Party is a diverse coalition - labor/workers, environmentalists, people of color, LGBT, women's issues, foreign policy, and more. If the site functions as it should, all these groups should feel welcome and respected. ALL of them. If any part of the Democratic base doesn't feel welcome and respected, it is a problem we as a community need to solve. Even if we often don't agree with them. We aren't going to have a progressive majority in this country by looking for people or groups we don't like. We aren't going to have an influential blog here by making certain people or groups feel unwelcome.
The past few weeks I've also read more comments by people on the "SHOULD" side of the divide who feel unwelcome and not respected. This is also a problem we need to solve. In my diary, I explained why we need both parts of the progressive coalition. In my "Building Bridges on Daily Kos" diary, I wrote:
The more diaries I read by people I had perceived as being on "the other side" the more I began to realize something. We need people out there who talk about what economic policies we SHOULD pass, not just what economic policies we CAN pass. If nobody promotes what we should ideally pass, those ideas don't get into national conversation, public opinion doesn't change, and those ideas are less likely to ever become politically possible.
We need the "CAN" side too. As I wrote in the diary:
Conversely, there's a time and a place for pragmatism and a time and place to focus on what is currently possible. I'll use the ACA as an example. There was a point at which it was obvious this was all we had the votes for - it was ACA in its current form or no bill. Similarly, Republican political hostage taking has put President Obama between a rock and a hard place. He has no good options when it comes to the budget
I also don't believe the various factions around here are as far apart as it often seems. For example, look at
Yasuragi's comment.
It's long been my sense (which is saying I agree) that Democrats could shift madly to the left these days and still retain their constituents. Trouble is none of them will try it.
Isn't that what the "SHOULD" side of the divide around here wants? Then how far apart are most of us really once you get past all the built up frustrations/misunderstandings over the years?
I've said Daily Kos is a big tent progressive blog. That means it is a given not everyone will agree with you all the time. All of us have to realize this isn't an echo chamber and what would we learn if it was? But if people feel unwelcome or not respected, then it is a problem.
The recent meta diaries have made it clear multiple groups around here don't feel very respected. Is there a way for us as a community to get together and solve this?
I guess if you look back there just isn't...Can it be different this time?