It is hard to deny that the last week on Dailykos has been a bit taxing to say the least in terms of arguing for the heart and soul of one of the only progressive outlets on the internet. First we heard from respected front pager Denise Oliver Velez in a post entitled Why are you here? (A rant) . The post was well received in our fact based community yet failed intellectual integrity and honesty 101 in internet discourse by failing to link to the offending post. In doing so Denise conflated issues and painted a large swath of the Dailykos into one ideological corner without allowing them the opportunity to weigh the validity, objectivity, and subjectivity of her words. This created a strawman argument in which people who would otherwise be like minded allies were pitted against each other and those who were smeared by her words could not properly defend themselves. The professor should recognize her words as a logical fallacy but proceeded to double down on her flawed argument. She is entitled to her opinion and it was noted that it was a rant. I took it with a grain of salt and slept it off considering I have enjoyed her writing on Dailykos in the past.
Now last evening Kos decided to weigh in another post Ask-me-Anything-Even-about-ugly-meta in which he stated he was in 100% agreement with Denise Oliver Velez's post. This touched off another meta war on the site and out of anger I felt the need to post this comment in the thread. It was not the highlight of my comment history on Dailykos nor did it much further the discourse of our stated mission objective but it was a rant that contained a large amount of truth in it that I have kept bottled up. After Kos accused me of lying about reading Crashing the Gate he chimed in with this comment:
The book was about pragmatism (25+ / 0-)
and how the party establishment was ignoring data and societal and demographic trends to stick with an old cadre of useless consultants and out-of-vogue ideas.
But pragmatism undergrid the entire book. And nothing has changed on that
Having been here from 2003/04 and purchasing a 1st edition copy of the book I again responded with anger and wrote:
Yes Kos. Ignoring data nd societal and demographic (4+ / 0-)
trends to stick with an old cadre of useless consultants and out of vogue ideas. Exactly what you are doing right now. Millennial's don't accept third way corporatism nor do they want continued inaction on climate change. Nor do they want the 4th amendment to be continually gutted because of "reasons" that have nothing to do with actually keeping us safe. You think the biggest wave of youth and minorities turned out for a continuation of the Bush era policies? How about a little reflection?
Now this got me thinking about my place as a Millennial on Dailykos. Considering that Dailykos is predominately older, white, male, and affluent, what place does a 29 year old have on a blog where his progressive views are oft looked upon with scorn, mockery, and continually told that what Millennials desire is not politically possible?
On this blog we are continually discouraged from seeking what is now considered far left but in the 1970s would have been main stream liberalism. There is a great deal of talk about how we can get young voters engaged and how we can win the youth vote. When ideas such as the 15$ min wage are floated about or student loan forgiveness we are told that we have to change the make up the current House of Representative before we can do anything constructive. Well that is not a politically winning message.
My generation tends to be very social liberal as been noted on the front page but what is oft not mentioned is that they are economically far left of the current political system. One of the major things that has kept Millennials engaged is the desire to stop climate change and income inequality. Millenials have been permanently scarred by the financial crisis and typically believe that social security will not be there for their generation. They like myself believe that climate change presents one of the biggest challenges of our generation and that the current administration who sold the slogan of "Hope and Change" now tinged with cynicism is not doing to do enough to address these systemic problems.
Well there is one solution to motivation millennials to become a solid voting block for the Democratic party that bypasses all the Republican obstructionism that is continually trotted out as the reason our generation which is swamped in student debt and forced to take low wage jobshttp://www.theguardian.com/... can't have nice things.
Is it raising the min wage? Nope that requires congressional action in the House. Is it student debt forgiveness? No our party won't even consider that and when our progressive hero Elizabeth Warren talks aboutstudent loan forgiveness it is placed in the context that it will only apply to future students while doing nothing to address the fact that student debt is stopping an entire generation from entering the middle class. Our student loan interest rates are a political bargaining while Wall Street is allowed to barrow money at 0.001% interest. Is it expanding social security? No it's not. Our Progressive President has offered it as a concession not once, not twice, but three times as a bargaining chip while our minority leader Nancy Pelosi claims in an Orwellian manner that a chained CPI benefit cut is not actually a cut. We have only been saved by the chopping block because the House Republicans are to bat shit racist and crazy to accept a third way corporatist deal because our first black president offered it. For once we can be glad for racism in America. Is it by unifying behind a Progressive Caucus Budget proposal that the largest voting block in the House has offered up each year and has been proven to be the best proposal with the best solutions to addressing our nations problems but is continually ignored by the White House and media? No. That requires congressional action. Is it raising the min wage to a paltry 10.10 because as Obama has said "It's even catchy to say?" No because as Wisepiper correctly stated:
* [new] My sons are millenials. (11+ / 0-)
Their question? Who the hell can live on $10.10 per hour?
What seemingly few of my Democratic brethren understand is that a dollar bill can't literally walk into the voting booth and pull the lever. Your only tool for exacting accountability is the casting, or withholding, of your vote. Don't be an enabler.
by WisePiper on Sat Mar 15, 2014 at 06:08:30 AM EST
10.10$ is still a poverty wage and a drop in the bucket consider that if wages had kept up with inflation and productivity then the min wage would be
22 dollars an hour. So you can imagine my generations disgust at being told that 15$ an hour would be an economic catastrophe for our 1% job creators. They have put for the same arguments since child labor to justify poverty wages. I mean tipped workers still make
2.13 and have to claim all their tips in the tax returns. So no you won't get the millenials vote and action with half ass measures to fix the greatest gap of wealth and income since the late 1880s.
What is it then? Why are you just bringing up all these links and facts instead of continuing with the meta that has dominated this site for the last week? Well because as I stated before there is one thing that is completely within our power to control and would inspire my generation to remain activists. It is such a small thing but would inspire many who bought hook line and sinker the lye that hope and change would result in more equality for all and a discontinuation of the Bush era torture policies, NSA spying, and Wall Street default swap derivatives. (Which Wall Street is now doing with Renters agreements - what can go wrong there?)
I call upon President Obama to reject the Keystone XL Pipeline.
(Yes I've been to two protests - Yes I've issued my public statement) Now Dailykos - the choice is yours. Since I have to accept the fact that the demographic of this site is older, white, male and affluent and at times far more economically conservative then a great many of my generation are - (I've been to Netroots and there are not many young faces there) - and that we have to first elect better and then more democrats - then we can agree that the ONE thing we truly have in our power to activate the youth vote that WE CAN CONTROL
-
Is rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.
Can we agree on that or should myself and the younger folk look for a new place to "agitate"?