This night in Connecticut is important. Tomorrow, it'll be analyzed and picked over in the media, and every corner of Blogistan will have it's take. But the polls have closed, and the outcome is still unknown; we don't know who's won.
I believe it'll be Lamont. And even though it hasn't happened yet, while the outcome is still in flux, tonight (though with 86% of the precincts in, a 3-point lead is still pretty good)-- right now, in Connecticut, is important.
It's Progressive members of the Democratic Party (and to the stooges who have desperately tried to change that title to "the
Democrat party" in the public mind, I say it's never been more freakin' obvious that we're a party of people who don't simply believe in but
practice a Democratic way of life, Capital-D Democracy) I'm talking to: Whether you worked for him, liked him, agreed with his 'netroots' campaigning against old-Pol interests or not, do you remember the
feeling around Dean's candidacy? What it felt like to see members of
The Democratic Party (according to three-quarters of the MSM, 'The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight') with serious momentum and purpose. By their actions you could see their hearts were on fire; they were willing to
fight -- and that's something that hasn't been seen in The Democratic Party for a long time.
Just sensing that was a uniting force. You didn't have to believe in Dean's candidacy, but people could say to themselves We're not punks; To take the wheel away from Captain Bligh all you have to do is Stand Up And Stand Together.
That gave people hope, that there was an alternative to a sense of hopless decline, that the future is an inevitable triumph of the worst humankind can create; that America's future is already carved in stone by people who don't give a damn about you, or anyone else. It's a feeling that we can believe in each other rather than fear each other. That people could stand together -- not necessarily around a single person, but just a belief in unity -- and change minds, change that future. And that is something which hasn't appeared out of the mainstream Democratic Party in a long, long time.
This is why tonight, right now, before the final tally and the deluge of punditry, in Connecticut is important. It isn't so much about Ned Lamont; it isn't even about the war, or what the Right has done to this country in a relative few years. It isn't even about Lieberman's failure as a representative of Democratic principles at a time when they were never more important.
It's about that feeling of purpose around an idea -- that we're not victims and can change a future. That shared sense of solidarity and strength is what the campaign in Connecticut has truly been about -- no matter what the outcome -- and that energy and hope coalesced around Lamont and stands out clearly against a timidity and indecision which people now expect from Democrats.
But we're not like that. We're in the process of proving it -- that we believe in something; that we have a better vision of humanity and the future to offer than a cynical criminality, failure, and greed. We're beginning to find something again which we felt was lost.
The experience and the lesson of Connecticut should not be allowed to drift away after tonight, or be lost in the babble of commentators and talking-head strategists -- even in the rumblings of hard-nosed, old-line Pols. No matter what happens. And that is why tonight is important, right now, in Connecticut.