Personally, I would like to see a consensus reached (at least in principle) in order that we could move ahead. As one who has an unwavering belief that Internet activism (and activism as a whole) will become key to  the future of politics, and more importantly political change, I feel that the time is now to start organizing and harnessing this power.

We need to face one fact first before we can look to the future. This whole debate, although simmering for quite some time, came to a boil with Alito. But we must accept that we (and I speak here as the "collective" we, not individuals) dropped the ball early in the game, only to complain in the end that we lost. Although many were committed to the cause of stopping Alito early on, the vast majority of the blogosphere/internet (including some of its most prominent leaders/spokesmen) did not get fully behind the effort until the eleventh hour.  This to me speaks volumes about why, as a movement, we will remain ineffectual if we don't evolve and change our tactics.

I look at the organizing of grassroots movements on the right, and how a small minority has managed to gain control over all political discourse in this country, and contrast that with what has thus far been done on the left. The Dean movement taught us that there is a vast potential for fundraising and information dissemination. (as has Move On and other groups), but we have yet to figure out how to really put that power to practical use. To get people elected the kind of people who support our principles. Here is where the right has been effective ... they put "movement conservatives" in power and when they can't, they still force the centrists to shift right out of fear (Specter, need I say more) WE must do the same with "movement liberals".

But how?

I think the key here is picking the right battles, picking the right amount of them, and most importantly uniting everyone in a common cause.

If we could get organized enough to put ALL our resources ( time, money, communication and networking skills) behind a cadre of progressive primary candidates we might be able to put enough pressure on the system to accomplish our goals.

This could be important for two reasons .  First we would hopefully unseat those who do not support our goals the majority of the time. In other case we would be forcing those who waiver to think twice out of fear of future primary challenges. This is what has driven the right.

But it can only be done when you have been successful and so far we haven't been. Dean and, Hackett have made for great media, but in the end were not successful. WE need success.

We need leadership on this.

I realize that most of the blogmeisters shirk from this responsibility under the guise that the Internet should be leaderless, a free form of expression where anyone can rise up and take the lead.... But so far this has not happened, and I'm not sure it ever will. We have only months left before the mid-terms and we are still floundering around.

What I would like to see is:

* A general "call-out" from the blog leaders to all progressive candidates who wish to run. An organized campaign to have their voices heard by those of us who can help them. ( I like what I'm seeing with Ciro Rodriguez' from TX 28 over at dKos)

*The sites should then run polls, have debates and what-not to pick a specific number of candidates that we can support effectively and MASSIVELY

*The slate of candidates would then be decided upon by consensus of all of us. Then promoted across the Internet.

*Specific goals set for fund raising, petition signings, etc.

*In essence we run a third party ticket from within the party.

If we are successful, we then transfer our efforts to the general election, still concentrating on our slate candidates. In those cases where we have not been successful, then and only then do we support the other Dem candidate.

This kind of thing can only be done with some sort of leadership and commitment from those who control the front pages of community blogs or are large single author sites. I realize that the campaign finance laws and such would make this hard,... but if they could provided the "forum" for it to be done, than it would hopefully gain a life of it's own  and become a "movement" rather than an organized campaign. Hopefully down the road the larger "real" political entities like Move On and such would follow our lead.

This to me seems the best of both worlds ... an actual movement to change the party, while not abandoning it entirely to allow the Republics to fill the vacuum.

Sorry for the length of this


Migra Matters: progressive immigration reform