Just a small observation.

[Lyric]

If you want the progressive left to turn out at the polls for Democratic candidates, perhaps telling them how unimportant and trivial they are to the party isn't the smartest tactic in the world to adopt. Maybe it's just a hunch, but it seems to me that such treatment might upset them just a teensy bit? Recall that we are all human beings, not robots who vote based on coldly mathematical, objective, and unemotional priorities. Like it or not, emotional concepts like "feeling included," "feeling valued," and a sense of common identity (like a political party or a "movement," for example) have a lot to do with how people vote. Damaging those emotional and social constructs with condescension, trivialization, and dismissive attitudes toward the progressive wing of the party could come back to bite the Democrats in the end. Actually, scratch the could part--I'm pretty sure that if this continues, it WILL come back to bite the Democratic party in the ass.

And yes, what people say on an "internet message board" really DOES matter sometimes, even if some of you would rather scoff at the idea and insult anyone who'd DARE to vote (or not) based on feeling excluded/outcast/insulted by an online community. We are all different, and these online forums can be deeply important to maintaining and nurturing a sense of common identity. It might not be THE sole and primary motivating factor, but it could certainly be a contributing factor, and perhaps even the final straw, so to speak, before the camel's back breaks. Many of you enjoy chiding others for putting too much importance on what people say here at DU, but that completely discounts the complexities of human social behavior. For some people, this might be the only contact with other Democrats that they have. DU does not hold the same level of importance for everyone; what's a mere pastime for you might be an enormous and focal social interaction point for someone else. And that matters, whether you like it, whether you approve of it, and whether you admit to it or not.

I'm sure some of you are already preparing your "Boohoo, did your feewings get huwt?" posts now, so I'll let you get to it, but for those of you who can think and reason beyond a 6th grade classroom level, please consider what I've said. The last thing this party needs is yet another round of vicious infighting. If such a thing happens and the Republicans take control again, it won't be the fault of just the progressives. Although there will likely be some refusal to own up to it, that blame will be shared equally with those who helped alienate the progressive wing in the first place--in places just like THIS.

Just my $0.02.

[BeFree]

1. Our job, ...

....as progressives, is to alienate the status quo, to shake things up, to make progress. Most people sit on their asses, just along for the ride. Then we come along, shake them awake and, by Gawd, they get grumpy at us.


Deal with it. Either that or join them - sitting there like a bump on a log.

[Warpy]

2. Just a small observation

Democrats in Congress are simply not doing the job they were elected to do, preferring to raise money for the next campaign to putting their butts on the line to do what is right for the country.

People are seeing this quite clearly in the health care mess.

Democrats are going to lose their jobs in 2010. This site is an early warning to them of that fact, the one place they can read about what's going on in the real world and why.

They wimped out in 1994 and didn't let health care reform out of committee. We got 12 years of Republican damage as a result. Likely they will be kept out of power even longer this time.

I know this is an ugly truth to face and some people don't want to face it. If such is the case, then put me on ignore because I'm going to continue to tell it.

[tabatha]

3. There are many that are doing their jobs.

It is the handful that are not - and unfortunately they are messing up the process, added to which the Republicans are holding back as much as they can.

There are some really decent Democrats who are really trying.

The bad ones need to be replaced.

[Warpy]

9. That's not what's going to happen, though

because we've been through this horseshit before. We know demoralized Democrats will just stay home and sit on their hands rather than vote for people they see as ineffective, at best.

[Iggo]

4. YOU LIE !!!!

That was a huge observation!

:fistbump:

[dgibby]

5. Excellent post.

Thank you so much. Very insightful.

K&R!

[Gregorian]

6. Sometimes I think our only purpose is to take the blows. To die. But for a nobel purpose.

We are on the defensive. It is our position by the nature of things. We are hunted. We are incarcerated. Punished. There is only truth on our side. And the alternative to what we do is a world of bruts. Fascists. Painful powerful dictators who decide the fate of others.

I think of how Nelson Mandela carefully wove his heart into those around him in jail. More often than not the story has a bad ending.

Who knows how it all works. I like to think that it's all being played out in an arena far bigger than we can comprehend, and only reflected in this world we see. Yet we have some important role.

I just don't know. But there is success. There is triumph. Why is it so difficult? Perhaps you are correct. Maybe if we could all pull together it would help. I think this is the goal. Some kind of solidarity.

[Bjorn Against]

7. I wish I could reccomend this a hundred times

Thanks for the much needed post Lyric, you are absolutely 100% correct.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

8. I have health insurance and am employed, so really when all this fails its not my feelings that are

hurt. Nor, am i being cynical because I cannot control the outcomes of this as someone posted yesterday. Nor do I expect miracles.

However some of the ways democrats in office are behaving including the President (but not JUST the president) insult my intelligence. Assumes I do not understand whom they are really beholden to and how negligible they find me. That their policies disproportionately help the wealthy, the military industrial complex and the health care industry.

So yes the "condescension, trivialization, and dismissive attitudes toward the progressive wing of the party" makes me wonder whether I should vote D straight ticket next time. I mean it really seems the party leaders do not want me & neither do rank/file democrats.

[ecstatic]

10. I envy anyone who votes based on DU threads

They obviously have no real worries or concerns. Living off daddy's trust fund? :shrug:

[Lyric]

12. Thank you for demonstrating part of the problem.

People really need to understand just how much contempt is behind words like yours, and how much damage that kind of contempt can do to a movement that lives and dies by the common purpose and identity of its people. I realize your intention was to be degrading and divisive, but there is still some small value in your words, even if only as a example of the poisonous tactics and logical fallacies that pose a real risk to any hope of achieving unity by election time.

Thanks.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. yeah, clearly if i think that du'ers reflect democrats in their dismissive and contemptuous

attitudes towards progressives, they MUST be living of daddy's trust fund

since a CLEAR correlation exists in the two

[hfojvt]

11. boohoo, did your feewings get huwt?

:P

It might do well to remember a couple other things

1) the person replying to you with snark is not necessarily a Democrat. Some are greens/socialists/3rd partiers who could give a rat's patootie about the Democratic Party. Others are rightwing trolls in sheep's clothing eager to stir up bad feelings on a leftish message board, especially towards Obama and other Democrats.

2) "The last thing this party needs is yet another round of vicious infighting."

Isn't that what the kool-aid drinking Obamabot cheerleaders have been saying? It is the presumably progressive left that is starting the vicious infighting with their "Obama sucks! Democrats suck! They are corporatists just like Republicans! I am never gonna vote for them again (or vote at all again)! They lost me with ..."

3) supposedly we believe in truth ueber alles. If it is true that the left wing of the party is not the base, is only the tail and not three of the four legs or the whole dog, then it is true whether it hurts your feelings or discourages you or not. It's better to know the facts than to be wandering in myth and delusion isn't it? The truth may also help to explain why elected Democrats do not immediately jump when you say 'how high?'

[Bjorn Against]

13. Kicking for visibility

[treestar]

14. On DU the progressive left has been plenty guilty of condescension

and haven't acted at the least bit as if they thought they were trivial and unimportant, in fact quite the opposite - Congress and the POTUS better do exactly what they want or they'll stay home and let the Republicans win. And the exaggerated attempts to find something to be offended about! But I've seen much more of that - claims that they are the only reason the Dems won and threats to bolt if things aren't done their way. These aren't people feeling dismissed.

But if you are in a small minority you're in no position to act that way. The polls show most Democrats are happy.

[Mithreal]

15. Big K&R