Daily Kos
has become what it has become because of what it is.
People who want it to be something else ... if there was a demand for that, it would already exist.
Not to say we can't tweak this, or improve on that, but our core mission is our core mission and not only is it what I want to focus on, but it's what has driven the site's community and growth.
Sounds arrogant, I know, but it's simple market economics. And it's hard to argue for a radically different approach when we are seeing the kind of growth and scale we are seeing:
8 million monthly uniques
1.8 million email action list
666,000 Facebook likes
-Kos, January 9, 2015
I want everyone to think about the above logic and consider the following extension of it:
If there were a demand for equality in the workplace, it would exist.
If there were a demand for police to stop shooting people in the streets, it would exist.
If there were a demand for ends to secretive negotiations, it would exist.
The fact is that institutions in place actively blunt efforts for solutions. And Daily Kos is an institution with disproportional influence at this point. Whatever it was years ago, what it is now is a place that is geared around "market economics". In other word, how do we drive as much traffic to Kos as possible. The question then becomes, what 's the point of driving high traffic if it can't be converted to positive electoral action?
Growth is only a positive when it creates health for the body. Cancer grows but it destroys person. Parasites grow but consume the host. Daily Kos is growing, but is it helping contribute to a better America? Is it helping the host? Is it generating gains for its ownership at the cost of benefiting the electorate? What good is growth if it produces nothing that benefits the body? Lots of people can chatter and complain on Kos. But if that's the extent of Kos' purpose, then it's just another messageboard.
The claim of Kos is this
"To elect more and better Democrats."
On that count, Daily Kos has failed in its mission for years. And I'm not just talking about at the national level, because the state and local levels have suffered as well.