Seven years ago, I joined Daily Kos.
Seven years ago, I, like many, was fed up with President George W. Bush, of his policies, of his war mongering, of his apparent stupidity, of the forced loyalty to anything his administration demanded. Seven years ago, one man caused me to pay more attention to politics than I had in any other time in my life. Seven years ago, I started reading more about the current events of the day online, especially after my lack of awareness caused me to miss the destruction and disaster of Hurricane Katrina by five days. Seven years ago, a man named Bill O'Reilly railed against a progressive site he compared to Nazis and Satan, which was reported by Media Matters, which I found through a now retired site called Two Left Wings, a progressive political web cartoon.
Seven year ago, I found a new internet home.
I am the first to admit I'm not the most active person here. In my seven years, I've only written six diaries. Everyone here is so verbose, so well-written, so well researched, so accomplished in their personal knowledge that only six times before have I found a reason to write my own starting dialogue. Each time was for a personal topic.
I've commented quite a bit, only earning one HR in my time due to a Soup Nazi reference - an HR that many others quickly uprated to cancel, since the HR seemed to be more about mentioning Nazis - but again rarely added anything new to the conversation, in my opinion. Comments and diaries, in the end, aren't the reason I consider Daily Kos an internet home.
For me, it was far more about the habit known as lurking. Reading the diaries. Reading the news. Reading the discussions and arguments and pie fights that break out on the site. I live in a very conservative county, raised by rather conservative parents, and raised, like many around me, to not discuss politics as that was an unsavory and volatile topic. Here, in the wilds of the internet, I found people who thought and felt like me, but not exactly like me. There are people here whom I disagree with, those I agree with, and those who challenge my thinking entirely from both the previous sides. All of you give me new knowledge, new viewpoints, new ways of thinking of a situation. Everyone here has different life experiences, different histories, different understandings of every issue. It is a site full of cats, each sharing a feline nature, but only occasionally anything else.
And still, everyone here works toward the same goal. They all want this nation to be the best it can be. This is different from the shallow mentality that we ARE the best by default. Instead of declaring that faults don't exist, as though that makes them nonexistent, we want to fix the cracks in the wall, the holes in the ceiling, the missing insulation, and make this great house of America one that will stand forever as the greatest not by the boasting of its citizens, but by every measure of humanity.
We don't all agree what those measurements are precisely, but we all agree such measurements should be taken and actions taken to better the results. We all agree that every person breathing in this nation, this land, this Earth, should never worry about food, about shelter, about their health, and about their freedom. Everyone deserves to have the basics of nutrition, education, and vaccination, and everyone deserves a playing field that evens out poverty against the rich, that those who are secure now in every meal and medical decision must fight neck to neck, mind to mind, skill to skill, to those who didn't have such fortunate parentage. We fight to be a true meritocracy, so that those who do work and try and fight harder will rise to the top, instead of those who are born an inch from the finish line winning the race.
We stand for a stronger America, each and every one of us. No matter what differences we might face in various policies, candidates, or preferred pie flavors, we all want to see America be, without a doubt, without coasting on reputation, the greatest nation ever conceived.
It'll be hard, but I think Daily Kos was a great place for me to start.