Cat herding

Crossposted at the Independent Bloggers' Alliance

Booman posts "What are we trying to do?"

As I see it, Daily Kos and Jerome Armstrong have not articulated a goal that has any synergy with my goals. We still have a huge amount of common interests. But I am primarily interested in shifting the debate to the left, while they seem to be interested in boxing in the netroots into traditionally acceptable parameters of debate.

I don't think that will do. It might bring us a result that they don't want (a Hillary presidency), but it won't fundamentally alter the assumptions and myths that made both Bushism and the invasion of Iraq possible. Are we going to gain something from Iraq or are we just going to end it so we fight another war on another day?

To summarize: goal one was to elect a Democratic congress. Goal two is to turn the Democratic Party into a progressive party. That means primaries. That means changing what is considered as the political fringe...which means changing the political center. The fight against Republicans required a lot of Democratic unity. But those days are over now. Now the battle is for the soul of the Democratic Party. And that means that it is the furthest thing from a waste of time to take on Ellen Tauscher and oppose Hillary Clinton.

Anyone that doesn't get that does seem to be missing the point, or selling out.

I don't think we're ever going to speak with one voice. To get that to happen would require a lot more cat herding than many of us are comfortable with. And when someone decides that one goal is all-important, sometimes they feel inclined to attack people they see as being "in their way". But those people are often working toward what *they* consider to be the most important goal right now.

There is no one goal that unites most of us right now. As the 2008 election gets closer, there is likely to be even more animosity. If we let that happen. We can always choose otherwise.

Me? I think it's important that everyone gets a chance to speak and be heard. The so-called netroots are not monolithic. Maybe some people would like to pretend that we are, so that we can be a powerful "special interest group" that candidates will try to cater to. But wishing doesn't make it so. I guess one way to *appear* united in pursuit of one goal would be to make sure that those who disagree don't have access to the microphone. Or find other ways to silence or marginalize them. In my mind, those are not acceptable options.

P.S. Here's a link to the post about the Independent Bloggers' Alliance that Maryscott frontpaged at My Left Wing, in case anyone would like to weigh in and contribute to the discussion there.