I know I am. I think there's enough proof already. They are crazy liars without a heart who cater to the rich and conservatives and play upon people's intolerance, fear of the new, and ignorance to do the bidding of the corporate/wealthy interests. I get it. Have gotten it for many years now. I am convinced. Nothing surprises me anymore about the depths the Repubs will go. Think the worst and they can always get even worse yet.
But how does the incessant drum beat about the horrible Repubs advance the purpose of dailykos, which is to elect more and better Democrats? If you want to improve your kitchen, harping on how bad your neighbor's kitchen is doesn't get it done.
Of course, demonizing the enemy is a tried and true way to activate your constituents, but how much motivating do we really need and how does that advance the goal of improving the Democratic Party?
Demonizing the Republicans certainly gives us a common target for our outrage, but does it also dissipate the energy we need to work on electing more and better Dems?
Focusing on the awful Repubs is often a source of amusement when it's not a reason to cry, but does it just give us a false sense of unity when there are big differences in our views of the Democrats and how we see a way forward to electing more and better ones?
One might think that if the purpose of dailykos is to elect more and better Dems, then what goes on here should be primarily about the Democratic Party or Democrats. We should be as self-reflective as we are critical of the Repubs. Instead of criticizing ourselves for wanting to start flame wars, we should not be afraid to look inward as critically as we do looking at the Repubs.
We can go on blaming the Repubs - or the media or the voters - for the problems we face in this country, but we need to look to the Dems as well. If we want more and better Dems, we need to devote as much time and effort understanding what they've done wrong and are doing wrong to contribute to the current state of affairs. We need to call them out, rage at them and laugh at them just as much as we do the Repubs. Letting them off the hook because it feels good to have a common enemy or because it's scary not to always be singing kumbaya is not going to get us anywhere.
Can we all agree that the Repubs are despicable, bad people and then move on and look more often, more closely, more critically at our own party?