Our Mission--Starting Today

So I have spent the past twenty four hours moping around, feeling sorry for myself and for people who feel my views. I especially felt sorry for all the great people on this site, people like MeteorBlades who was attacked for daring to suggest we look beyond the election...as if he was a traitor or something.

But now that we are past this election, George W. Bush will be our president for four more years, where do we go from here????

Below is my belief on what our mission should and must be if we want to change our country and turn around this wave of conservatism sweeping the country.

Last night I was appalled. I felt the joy and optimism that spawned from all the wonderful people I met while GOTV in New Hampshire vanish and watch something unbelievable unfold. I watched my senator and the man who I thought would become the 44th president of the United States lose. Not only did he lose...the Democratic Party lost throughout the country. We lost house seats, senate seats, gubernatorial races, legislative races...you name it, and we lost it.

Yet there were plenty of victories that spawn new hope for the future. We have a rising star in Barack Obama and our new senator in Colorado, Ken Salazar. We gained seats in CO-3, where Salazar's brother John won, a seat in Georgia, Melissa Bean won in Illinois and look to pick one up in New York in NY-27. In my home state of Massachusetts, who is in mourning right now, Mitt Romney made a push to use the gay marriage issue to create a larger Republican minority in the house and the senate. Right now, not only did he fail to do so, but also the Democrats have picked up seats. I know that in my county, for the first time in its history, it will send an all Democrat delegation to Boston.

But what do we have to do here at DailyKos? What is our mission after this election and after the bruising we have suffered.
I would like to remind you all that politics is a game. And it is the game we choose to play if we want to change our world and help our country. In this game, we win some and we lose some. So while this was a particularly painful defeat, we must pick ourselves up quickly and set a mission for the future.

Here are my 4 steps for what we need to do...starting now, culminating in the future. This is not for 2008, 2012 or whatever...we need to start now and change things.

1.As we proved during the election, the Blog is a very powerful tool. Whether it was the Plame affair or the bulge on Bush's back or the CBS memos, we really changed things and we kept the politicians on their toes. WE MUST CONTINUE TO DO THIS. It is essential that we continue to put Washington and the politicians under a microscope. If there is something fishy, we will find it. That is our most important job and we must again do this today and continue into the future.

2.One thing that will be questioned as we look back on this campaign, especially in terms of the Democrats, are the candidates that we selected. Now I do not want to get into an argument about John Kerry and his candidacy. I think he is a great man, a great senator and would have made a wonderful president. I had picked another in the primary, but I argue that John Kerry did not lose this race. (see #3). But it was appalling to me the number of races throughout the country where the Democrats did not field a candidate or fielded weak candidates. Our second job must be to convince/back as many solid candidates as we can and certainly never leave a race unchallenged. We need to do this everywhere, from senate races to Town Clerks, we need to build our party again. As was shown in PA-08, where Ginny Schrader ran well, but lost, we never know what will happen. We need every race to be challenged. Before this election, with the three special election victories (SD-1, KY-6, NC-1) we fielded three great candidates. And guess what???? WE WON THOSE THREE RACES.

3.Markos is correct when he calls for the removal of most of the Democrats leading the party. South Dakota may be a mixed blessing, in that it removed a great man Tom Daschle (this shouldn't be debated either, not the point of my piece), but it also makes way for a stronger fighter in a bluer state (yet to be determined, for now Harry Reid). But we, as a community, must help structure the party's message. John Kerry did not lose this race because he was a bad candidate, a bad speaker or off-message. He lost this race precisely because he was on message. Our message in this cycle was Why the Republicans Are Wrong. This simply does not work. Americans inherently hate hearing that they are wrong and get defensive. It is more productive, whether in an argument or in a campaign, to suggest a solution, rather than attack the problem.

The Republicans, curse them, have done a great job shaping their message in this and past elections. One, that they have the moral high ground. Two, that they will protect us better...are more gung-ho. Three, that they will give the common man their money back. No one likes paying taxes, so why not vote Republican. That is our third job, Crafting a Message.

4.Last and probably least important for the present is fundraising. The 527 may be a curse or a blessing, but as a blogging community, we are almost like them. We proved, through the Kos Dozen +3 or 4, that we have unbelievable fundraising potential. Now I am not asking for you all to donate now...I am tapped as well, but the Democratic Party will need funds as it starts to rebuild.

We have to deal right now with the fact that we live in a Conservative country. The United States is in a "War on Terror" and we no longer want your poor and your hungry, as it is written on the Statue of Liberty. But we need to work from the ground up. We should not be the reactionary to the Republicans, but instead, we should be our own party. We need to stand, shoulder to shoulder with the Republicans again and let America see both parties clearly. Only then can we rebuild this party and rebuild this country.

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Now I know that many people are here now, moping as i did, lurking or commenting on the main pages, but not in diaries. I am posting this now, because I think it is important. However, I ask your permission to post it again after the inauguration, mid-January or so...when maybe, our community is starting to come back together. These ideas will not work in my head or on paper; it needs you and your interest to succeed.