Reply #40: God forbid we should get our hands dirty by actually [View All]

[kevsand]

mixing it up in the real world. Unclean! Unclean! (I hope you realize that I'm kidding you here. I know that's not what you said.)

Still, given the choice between remaining distant and aloof out of fear of being co-opted or assimilated, or jumping in with both feet to actually effect change, I'm gonna jump every time, and check for a parachute later.

You are correct to say that in calling for a change in the party, I am advocating grassroots mobilization on an intimidatingly massive scale. Anyone who proposes forming an entirely new third party, progressive or not, is also advocating such an effort. This is, I believe, how democracy works, or is supposed to, anyway, and that's what we're really fighting for, after all. The same could also be said for revolutions. Nobody ever had a successful revolution without a hell of a lot of grassroots organizing up front.

And yes, society is increasingly atomized, and media focused, but nothing has ever been found to be as effective as old-fashioned person-to-person proselytizing or fundamental door-to-door canvassing. Combine that with whatever uniquely new media outlets that the internet eventually evolves into, and we've got a fighting chance.

You are also correct that some of the historical changes we've been discussing were evolutionary rather than sudden shifts. That actually just proves the point that parties can change over time given the proper stimulus, and that forces other than third parties can influence that change. I want the Democratic Party to evolve some more. And I want to change the stimuli.

Nobody ever said any of it would be easy. There are powerful forces standing in our way. But the one thing we have in our favor is that the Democratic Party operates by a fixed set of rules, and they are enforceable. Ultimately, control of the party originates from each individual precinct.

If progressives support progressive candidates at every opportunity, we will get more progressive candidates. If progressives insinuate themselves into the party at every level, if we become the party, then we will be the ones assimilating the old forms into a new structure and vision, instead of the other way around.

And yes, okay, I'm a cheerleader, and a cock-eyed optimist, and an idealist, and everything else one needs to be to persist in the constant struggle for truth and justice (and the Terran Way). I can't help it. It's who I am. I've spent the last twenty-one years providing technical support to grassroots non-profits working for social change. I find political struggles to be part and parcel of the process. I can't walk away because it looks hopeless. We've won way too many fights we weren't supposed to, and the goal is obviously more than worth it...