(by Slugbug)
Last night, my husband and I ventured out to see authors, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos and Jerome Armstrong of My DD) read and discuss their book, "Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots & the Rise of People-Powered Politics". We hoped to garner a few good grassroots ideas from the interaction of the authors and those assembled. Cars circled for parking, as we did, identifiable by bumper stickers (Dean, Air America, etc.). The sponsors were SEIU and Drinking Liberally, and the event was held in that church of labor, the Seattle Labor Temple. There is also a bar in the building, so the surprisingly sober talk was punctuated by noises of revelry from below. There was also a nice spread of free food, impressive for a progressive event.
I had learned that DailyKos gets more than a million visitors per day, that traffic has grown by 5-10% per week, that it is about to dwarf the weekday circulation of the New York Times. Combined with the 70 busiest progressive blogs, more people can now be reached than by the DNC (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/content?oid=31516). The time may be passing when mainstream elements of the party could ignore the blogosphere in favor of highly-paid consultants. Blogs have certainly not faded from the scene, following the 2004 election. Bloggers pushed for Dean to be head of the DNC and now many want to transform the party. These authors certainly fall into that group and advocate for a "vast leftwing conspiracy" to rival the powerful conservative network of think tanks and big donors.


To us, the most interesting aspect of the talk was the Q & A session with local residents. A summary follows. Each Q represents a citizen activist, each A one or both of the authors (paraphrased from notes). The audience was made up of a broad spectrum within the progressive/liberal community, moreso than we expected. This Q/A series represents ordinary citizens and questions you or I might have and relates to political activities we already participate in and how we could expand on them.
Q Why don't we say what we're for rather than what we're against, as a message?
A We had ceded too much of the country to the conservatives. Many run unopposed. Those not in a Democrat or swing state may never hear that we won't take away their guns. Democrats have to show how they are different from Republicans. Conservatives run the big media. We need to be able to counter the propaganda. We have made a start and there may soon be a television alternative, as Air America has been for radio.
Q How do we move Democrat Senators off the dime? What affect will limitations on 527s have?
A Conservatives don't believe in Campaign Finance Reform. 527s would now have similar status to PACs and people could not donate as much s they want. If Democrats have to rely more on small donors, that will get regular people involved again, as has already started to happen. Politicians will respond to the donors. We need to support a new generation of politicians and own them. I am suggesting buying out the politicians. They do not all have to hold the same positions. Ben Nelson represents Nebraska and only votes with the party half the time, but he can be depended on to support Harry Reid. He does not trash the party as, for example, Lieberman does. We need to get enough on our side in Congress to get Subpoena Power.
Q There is too much chatter on the blogs. How do we focus?
A Chatter is ok - it's for educating and motivating and getting more involved. Why no unified message? The Republicans have used "strong defense and family values" since it was successful in getting them in during the 1970s. Democrats still have alot of work to do at the state level, getting up to speed, to have a unified party. That's a long process. Republicans are battling for the "Millennial Generation," those under 28, the next Baby Boom. Rupert Murdoch has bought up "MySpace" where they hang out, and the Republicans can mine the blogs there and market to them. Meanwhile, Democrats are worrying whether to join Feingold's censure. Long-term thinking and structural changes are both needed and then we can win. Even if we regain a majority we will have long-term problems to solve.
Q How can we bring reform without criticism that we are fragmenting the Democratic party?
A We know the party has the right values. The fifty-state strategy was laughed at not long ago, and we were called "political naives." We are finding the opposite perception as we travel the US and the sense that we have nothing left to lose. Democrats are doing well in places like Montana and Colorado. We need to translate this nationally.
A Rove has been successful at mobilizing the right. It's not Bush's incompetence so much as his wrong ideology. We need to build our "brand." There are more Independents than anything else, and they could vote Democratic. The Republicans "framed" well. We chase the center but we need to become something that the center will come to.
Q The grassroots - who will do it? How? Where? When? Could there be a software system - a Google or eBay of organizing campaigns? The Dean phenomenon happened outside the party with MeetUp. Soros gave 40 million to ACT. Why not a sophisticated computer system? (The guy then reveals that he was a former Microsoft wealthy person but not now.)
A People can build it. It's a Brave New World. We just spoke at Microsoft earlier and told people to build the prototype. The money is out there, but don't look to the party. We plan a Leadership Institute next year that can train hundreds of activists.
Q Do we need to ignore our pet issues to gain a majority (eg. gay rights, civil rights etc)
A Conservatives don't talk about issues, but about values. We need to talk about what we all believe in, all over the country -- fairness, investing in our future, like conservatives talk about security and morality. A good example was Hackett, from a conservative district, who was able to approach the gay rights issues with something like "More power to 'em and if you disagree, it's unAmerican." We need to go for Core American Values. Conservatives talk in Code. Gingrich could tell Ralph Reed that the Christian Coalition could have their way once the Republicans were in office, without saying it directly.
Q We're in the Labor Temple, sponsored by a Union. What is the role of labor? Can we also take groups disenfranchised by both parties, according to some, like the disabled, and bring them personally into the party?
A The AFL-CIO split may have been healthy. The unions that left felt the labor pool was shrinking and that handing direct cash to candidates was outmoded. SEIU and others realized that it made more sense to try to increase the member base, get more members - not just dump money into a smaller union base. Halls like this are the Churches of the liberal movement. We need to build a Labor movement, not by blogging but by building unions which provide education to their members. We need to build up from the grassroots, not continue with top-down. The internet then allows disparate individuals to connect. Just talking about a fifty-state strategy has helped it grow.
Q What will the Democratic party look like in ten years?
A Dean is now the DLC chair, blogs have helped. People need to increase involvement at their local level and build them up.
Q Do you believe the election was stolen? (When asked how many in the audience do, approximately two-thirds of the hands go up)
A There were many problems in Ohio besides electronic machines. They were not just theoretical. If you read the Conyers report you know there was voter disenfranchisement.
Q Do you know there is an actual lawsuit in the next county because in our close Gubernatorial election, machine count favored the Republican, paper count which was also kept favored the Democrat?
A Yes, the machines are a piece of shit. Disenfranchising and machines should not be able to steal an election again. Let's also correct our structural problems in the party.
Q In our own county, we had addresses contested - the right to vote, to get the vote counted. Also, what are your thoughts on the media? Why are they so .. bad? What's happened? Thank goodness for the blogosphere. People in pajamas researching amazing stuff. Is there hope? What should we do?
A Republicans are trying to destroy the press because facts do not support the conservative ideology. On the left, we say "do you job." We need evidence. Conservatives are completely rigid on their ideology. Facts need to be reported. The Sunday talk shows are skewed conservative. We need to push them away from that. Look how we got rid of the Washington Post's rightwing nutso blogger? Bloggers can't do it all but we are an exciting supplement. We can't have people out getting scoops in wars and then rushing back to their blogs.
They signed books. I didn't get a book or stand in line, but photographed Kos and at that time thanked him for having Kerry and Carter as bloggers, and he said "better late than never." He also said that JK could possibly be a participant at the national Kos convention in Vegas. As a thanks, here's the book plug.
Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots & the Rise of People-Powered Politics
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/crashingthe gate
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