I’m looking at the conversations both here and across the blogosphere since the election, and what’s looking back is, I think, worth a comment.
Nationally, I was concerned. Concerned that the ascent of Barack Obama would prove too rapturous an experience for enough people on the left that continuing to do what we do – challenge, question and push the envelope – would not be tolerated.
But I needn’t have worried. As reports emerge that Obama may be considering one of the Clinton-era architects of the deregulation bubble for Treasury, or that he may not intend to roll back some Bush-era civil liberties abuses, bloggers are not resting on their laurels. And sure, some die-hards are questioning the questioning, or calling for restraint – but they aren’t drowning out the due diligence that has charcterized the very essence of the liberal blogosphere with shrill cries of “concern troll” or worse. They are simply engaging in the debate like everyone else – and it’s always the right time for debate.
And this holds true for local issues as well. In a year where there are especially hard feelings between Democrats and Progressives after a challenging election, here at this site there are constructive conversations going on about how to avoid some of this internal competition dynamic on the left in the future.
That conversation has taken two directions. On the one hand is the idea of fusion being championed by posters such as Bill McKibben. Merging the Democratic and Progressive Parties would likely have to be enforced from the grassroots, as Party leaders would be resistant. On the other hand, there is the workaround notion of enabling (or forcing) a primary among the left candidates, either through IRV or some form of preference voting, a traditional runoff election, or changing the law to allow the same candidate to run in multiple Party Primary Elections.
It’s good stuff, but it needs to be more than academic. To that end, I’ve been talking to some of the folks in the greater Vermont netroots about getting together in “real life” and discussing our options to the goal of creating a plan of action. Not yet another “scrap-the-Dems” yakfest, obviously, as many of us here are Democratic Party activists (and that’s not about to change), but an addressing the cycle of ragnarok – not simply the P vs. D thing, but the tired pattern of destruction and renewal within the Democratic Party in Vermont that always leads to only marginal functionality and mixed electoral results. A positive, forward-looking, progressive media activists summit to look at the lay of the land outside of the context of the Democratic usual suspects is probably overdue and I, for one, am excited at the prospect.
We’re looking at the same day as the Dem State Committee meeting (Saturday the 22nd), probably after the meeting. Obviously, this won’t hold interest for those who reject the Democratic Party, but if you are interested, leave a comment or drop me a line (my email is on my profile). I’ll get out some emails tonight, so stay tuned. It’s time to shake things up a bit, methinks.