[First off, I don't know that I have any more moral authority to opine on this than any other user of this site. Yes, I'm a contributing writer to the front page on legal issues, and I do have my role with Netroots Nation, but really I'm just a long-time user of this site who's been itching to vent.]
Since our victories in 2006, this site has been divided more often than not.
Having a Republican President and Republican control of both chambers of Congress united us. Whatever they wanted, we had to stop. But once our primary goal shifted from getting majorities of Democrats elected in both chambers (and a Democratic President) to having these majorities do something, there has been (and should be) a split between those who generally support our incumbents (including the President) and those who want to urge them into a more progressive direction. Add onto that the divide caused by the presidential primaries, the schisms from which have not fully healed.
These debates are healthy for our site, so long as we can conduct them with mutual respect. But no matter how real the disagreements are among us, remember that to our opponents we're all just a bunch of flaming leftists undermining America. ALL of us.
And while we've been fighting, our opponents have been organizing -- just like we did when we were out of power. They elected Scott Brown in Massachusetts when we couldn't be bothered to get engaged in the primary. They knocked off an incumbent Senator, Bob Bennett in Utah, and are on the verge of ousting party-anointed favorites in Kentucky, California and elsewhere.
And I understand that you may feel that elections don't matter as much as they used to, whether it's because you're frustrated with what our majorities have wrought, or complacent about our majorities and focused more on policy.
Still, I hope you've noticed that some of our electoral efforts have mattered. Electing new progressive voices like Sens. Sherrod Brown and Al Franken or Reps. Alan Grayson, Donna Edwards and Jared Polis does make a difference in terms of emphasis, ideas and outcomes. Good leaders change the conversation, and every two years, we have a chance to add more progressive voices to Washington, folks with real leadership skills who can make a difference in DC.
I hope you'll pick an Orange to Blue candidate to support today to further these efforts in providing great new blood in the next Congress. But that's just me, and this isn't just about that.
Wherever you place yourself on the spectrum of support/skepticism towards the President, his policies and his nominees, our diaries and comments should be about promoting our views on these important topics, and we waste our time when we attack each other for holding contrary views.
Let us not question each other's good faith. If someone else cares enough to be here and to engage in these issues, assume that person is here because s/he wants to improve America, but may disagree with you as to the pace or content of such change. The divisions between us are tiny compared to the differences between ourselves and our opponents -- who must be gleeful at how disengaged we've been from the midterm elections.
So, lookit: whatever you care about, whatever motivates you: make your next diary about that, and not about each other. Let's write the diaries we want to write, and not spend a moment further hectoring each other about the diaries which don't reflect our own views or priorities. No more meta -- and that goes for me too. Time's a'wasting.