First off, since you may be new and not clear on some aspects of the site, I am a community member and in no way paid by or a representative of the Daily Kos site or company. I’m just someone who comments and writes the occasional article posted in the community section. So on behalf of myself only, I do want to welcome you here.
If you are here for the Ukraine coverage, I assume you are here for the informative articles by Kos and Mark detailing what is going on. I also assume you are here in support of Ukraine as this site is supportive of their cause, even as the staff attempt to present only what they know to be accurate to the best of their abilities. I personally think they do a good job of letting us know when they are unsure, and they also do a good job when they make the rare mistake of letting us know what that was. But in general, we support Ukraine because it is a democracy (with all the warts of any democracy) attempting to defend itself from an authoritarian neighbor.
I’ve seen some comments in the comments sections hinting that some folks here are republican, and those comments often express a pro-freedom message. I want to emphasize this because it is a common point between us all. Many people, on all sides of the political spectrum, imagine ourselves to be good neighbors lending a hand to those in our community who are at need. Ukraine, not having the resources of Russia, is our global neighbor in need who we are supporting. Just as good neighbors help raise the barn, or put out a fire, we as a collective country have rushed to support Ukraine as it is attacked.
While you are here I invite you to look around the site. You will certainly see a fair bit of Republican bashing, that is very true. But if you can ignore that for a moment, you will see a lot of people working hard to improve the world around us. Democrats and progressives have a broad view of what it is to be a good neighbor. We work hard so that people working hard in any job are able to earn enough money to live without fear of hunger, or losing their house, or being attacked. And we tend to see that fight for giving hard working people a fair shake as similar to helping Ukraine fight for its freedom.
I also invite you to observe our attempts at holding ourselves responsible to our beliefs. We believe in responsible dialogue and holding each other to truthful statements. As I write about Ukraine, I feel quite confident that the community will be quick to point out factual or logical errors in my writing. I will in turn either use logic to defend my statement, or admit my errors when I commit them (which I do). This is of course what we strive for and we have plenty of times when it is imperfect.
A stereotype of liberals and progressives is that we never support war. As you can see here, that is not true. We do not support unjust war. Be we do support people fighting for their rights and freedoms. We greatly prefer peace. But we will defend ourselves and those who are unjustly attacked, just as you would.
I bring this all up because you have gravitated to this site for war coverage on Ukraine. A liberal blog currently has some of the best coverage of the war, not by accident, but because we know Ukraine’s fight for its life is also our fight for our lives and freedoms. It is also amongst the best because we value truth and facts even when they may not support our preferred position. We will not sugar coat bad news for Ukraine because it will not help us in the end. The main stream media is not liberal as you so often have been told, it is corporate media which has a profit motive and that skews its coverage. Fox News and many right wing media sources are supporting Russia, the authoritarian attacker. And that is because their private ownership has more in common with the Russian leadership than with a democratic Ukraine.
So when your fellow Republicans wear shirts with the message “I’d rather be Russian than a Democrat” ask yourselves who you are associating with and why. Ask yourselves who is more likely to come help you when your house is on fire. Ask yourselves why so many conservative leaders like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor-Green support an authoritarian like Putin. Do those leaders really share your values of freedom and democracy?
So please keep reading and join in the conversations. Please keep things factual and be prepared to have your facts challenged. Please be willing to admit error as we (at least a bunch of us) expect ourselves to admit error. Please be with us as we support Ukraine with honest news and analysis. You’re welcome to contribute towards that. And remember that when you see us as the other side of the political struggle, remember that we fight, as you do, for democracy, freedom, truth, and eventual peace.
