...Actually, please keep talking, but use the advantage of blogging to organize. But this is not a diary aimed at kos; it's meant to be read by everyone. We've heard a lot about making the Democratic Party a smarter, more attractive political party. Everyone is still talking about George Lakoff and his great ideas. Yet we continue to ignore one of his best examples of right-wing effectiveness: the weekly meetings organized by Grover Norquist with leaders from across the right. They are willing to come to a consensus on a broad message for Republicans. The coherent message has proven effective time and time again.
Now some people are saying, "That's great, but the Democrats will never do that." Well, if they won't do it voluntarily, let's do it ourselves. Use the blogosphere to network, to bring progressive activisits of all types together and discuss the issues and reach a consensus. It is a quick way to do so. And if dailykos starts this, people will take note: dailykos is already popular enough to merit an acknowledgment in, among other places, The Almanac of American Politics.
More in extended
Some will of course immediately object to my proposal because they believe that progressives are innately opposed to message discipline. That may be true. But as Lakoff said in Don't Think of An Elephant: "Nothing happens in the progressive world because there are so many people thinking that what each does is
the right thing [emphasis his]. It is not smart.
It is self defeating [empahsis mine]." It is even less smart now that we are out of power entirely and have to be as effective as possible to win. SInce the 2002 mid-terms, pundits have been emphasizing that the lack of a clear stand on many issues is killing the Democrats. We have not taken advantage of Iraq as a party because our party leaders have not come up with a position. The Senators have met and discussed, but they haven't agreed on anything (see this Washington Post
article). But just as in the 2004 election, let's not sit around and wait for the party apparatus. Let's create our own message.
As I said before, people will notice if we use dailykos and other blogs like myDD, Atrios, MoveOn.org's blog, and others to organize. These pages are read by millions each day, and Democratic politicians are certainly watching them as indicators of the grassroots base. Just as important, it is already an organizing tool for grassroots organizations. The blogosphere can be an amazingly powerful tool to bring people together.
I suggest several meetings of progressive leaders to see how their positions can mesh and how we can get a good message. These do not have to be official or anything like that; they can be informal, though they should cover most, if not all of the party. I think that it would be best if as many blog "leaders" (such as Kos on this site) from the bigger blogs and organizations (like MoveOn.org) should be invited. No exclusions because of dislike here: DLC-types shouldn't be kept out just because they are so moderate. Perhaps special chat rooms could be created elsewhere for such meetings, if the participants want to do it in real time. There can also be more permanent threads for such meetings.
Most importantly, though, let's agree on a message to disseminate throughout the blogs. Let's agree that progressives have a clear position on Iraq, another clear one on Social Security, another clear one on Medicare, another clear one on gay marriage, and so forth. Then, let's take that to the party apparatus. This can be a grassroots movement in itself, one for a Democratic Party that has clear values and stands on every issue, not just hatred for Bush. Though justified that hatred may be, it is not effective. If nothing else, such conferences of bloggers will unite the progressive New Media (as the Internet is referred to in the Almananc of American Politics) and impressively show the ability and vision of its leaders.
As a young Democrat, I have never lived in a time when my party was politically effective. Clinton could not build a majority, moved to the center, lost Congress, and dashed his presidency against the rocks of Monica. Other than him, I've had to suffer through Republicans countinually outwitting my party leaders. I refuse to sit here helpless; let's force the Democratic leaders to get moving and make a real message. If we do it now, we can have our message well-hammered out and in the minds of Americans by the mid-terms and the 2008 elections. I hope my fellow kossacks will join in making what I have talked about a reality. Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Keep talking; people are listening.