A number of diaries have currently or previously appeared on the Rec list in response to a much-disputed front-page story written by this site’s owner. I am not here to argue the merits or fallacies the front-page story or its resultant diary responses; those arguments are taking place in multitudes.
Intended or not, the site owner’s front-page post and the diaries written in response to it have once again opened the can of worms that continues to be the Bernie v. Hillary ongoing primary court battle. I’m not going to engage in any discussion about who should’ve been the Democratic victor because, simply put, that was then and this is now.
This is not a kumbaya diary. This is not a “let’s all get together and LOVE each other, man! Hug time!” feel-good piece. This is intended as a “let’s get the fuck together because our country is heading toward the freaking NIAGRA FALLS of waterfalls—and we need to stop bitching and start doing something!” type of diary.
We have a lot of work to do. And we’re wasting time.
The three key stated principles across the banner of the Daily Kos menu read: NEWS — COMMUNITY — ACTION.
Thanks to the excellent, informative, and well-researched front-page news articles from many of the front-page writers, this site has been strong in the first of these principles. When I see the constant, daily infighting and name-calling and accusing this diarist or another of being too “purist” or not “pure enough,” of not being either sufficiently compassionate or hard-hearted, I worry about the second of these principles.
But what’s sorely lacking is the third.
A special U.S. Senate election took place on December 10th, but to my memory, didn’t get a single front-page mention. Nor did it get any formal recognition from the Kos community despite the valiant efforts of a relative handful of diarists to urge the site’s owner to promote his campaign—and urge all of us to donate, volunteer, and help get out the vote for Louisiana’s Democratic candidate.
It’s not these calls to action that get the attention. But they should.
One of my favorite political bloggers is Jim Wright (Stonekettle Station). A statement that appears as a common refrain in his works is his admonishment to all of us as Americans—not just in the Red States or the Blue States—is: “If you want a better country, you have to be better citizens.”
I take that to mean doing the hard work of rebuilding our country. Staying engaged, whether we win or whether we lose. Taking responsibility as citizens and doing what we can to make this place a bit better for those who’ll come after us.
That’s why we’re progressives. Isn’t it? Making things better for all of us, as well as our children and grandchildren?
We must never lose sight of that.
We need to get to work at doing exactly that and we need to start now.
You may be at a loss as to where to start. So much needs to get done, so many protections of a once-civil society and remnants of our tattered social safety net need to be sewn back together. Where does one start? I admit, it can get overwhelming. I, too, have fallen prey to trying to overcommit to everything and anything when there’s only one me and I have a full-time job and a family to take care of.
But each of us, in whatever way small, medium, or large that we are able, has to start somewhere.
I read and hear a lot of complaints about the Democratic Party apparatus both on and off this site, and a lot of those complaints aren’t wrong. I have gone back and forth about whether I should just give up on trying to reform an intransigent institution that seems so stuck in its ways and go third-party, but then smarter people than me whip me back into reality. Like this guy:
So, before you decide to start painting a broad brush and say things like “the party is terrible”, realize, the party is whoever gets elected. That’s how the system works. You can work to change the party itself, but it is much easier to do so if you are willing to put some effort in to do so.
…[later; emphasis mine]...
The party is, in fact, us.
I take Reeves’ advice to be an echo of what Wright urges at his own blog: If we want a better party, we need to be better Democrats. We need to rebuild the party from the neighborhood up.
Last week, I submitted my application to not only join my county’s formal Democratic Party organization, but to volunteer as a precinct captain. I had been a “satellite” Democratic Club member for many years, but made the jump to rejoin at the county level and make it official.
I’ll tell you straight away, I’m scared shitless of being a precinct captain. I’m no born leader, and worse, I’m an introvert. Volunteering to canvass and phonebank with myriad campaigns has helped me break out of my shell, but to actually lead people and initiatives and projects? Not normally in my wheelhouse; I’ve always been happy to be a worker bee in the background.
But, currently, my precinct of 3,963 voters (1,523 of whom are Democrats and 1,305 whom are Other) has no Democratic go-to person. No one to say howdy, neighbor and encourage people on how to get involved in local actions and stay informed on local issues. No one to listen to their needs and concerns about their town, their county, their state, their nation.
So I think it’s high time I got over my insecurities and do it already. I’m taking the training after the first of the year. Wish me luck. I’ll need it!
You can help the party in other ways besides serving as a precinct captain. You can join or form your county party’s Progressive, LGBTA, or Black caucuses; you can volunteer to help with city council elections and stay informed on county commission measures that will impact your community. You can even help in a clerical or IT capacity if you have the desire or skill set.
Don’t know where to find your county’s party? Visit this link to find your state’s Democratic Party organization’s website. From the state website, you can more often than not navigate to your county’s party website (or look it up on Facebook). If no Democratic organization exists in your county or parish, start one—or get together with like-minded progressives to lobby for one from the state party.
I’m encouraging party change from within because I hope you won’t give up on what I feel is our only semifunctioning dam against an incoming right-wing tsunami. However, if you’re still not feeling the love for an explicitly big-D Democratic organization, plenty of progressive organizations need your talents and time, even if you don’t have money to give. TealBomb has an excellent diary that serves as an action portal for many such orgs.
What I’m sharing here is just a start—the Google is always a huge help when it comes to looking up party orgs, causes, actions, and ways to get involved. The point is to start working—or keep working if you find that you’ve been spending too much time in endless arguments with fellow progressives on the Internet.
We may not always, or ever, like each other individually or agree with each other’s specific opinions. That’s okay, and that’s simply human nature. But just as we have to put up with personality conflicts at work and still get our jobs done, we need to work together.
We’re going to be fighting a common enemy both enormous and extremely dangerous. We don’t have time for bullshit.
We need each other. We need the ACTION back. We need you. And we need to get to work.
Now.