There seems to be a big divide here between people here for themselves and those here for organizations.
There also seems to be a (related?) divide between the idealistic grassroots and cynical operatives. And many “big name bloggers” seem to be operatives. I was talking to one the other day, and we had a very interesting exchange:
Him: You know, our first success as the netroots was not electing Howard Dean as chair of the DNC, but it was in fact Ben Chandler (a blue dog). People seem to think the netroots is ideological, but we’re not.
Me: Then what is the netroots if not ideological?
HIm: Partisan..
The more I think about it, the more it seems that that’s what’s really going on. If peole in the elite, be they senators or bloggers or whatever, want to spread a message, or move the media to the left, they can’t do it straigh tup So what they do is convince the grassroots that they really care about FISA, or Electing Travis Childers, or whatever. And then teh grassroots energy translates to a message on Chris Matthews, or whatever.
That ties into the points Zach Exley is making – there’s a healthy capacity for self-criticism in the Churches / Social Justice Church movement, but not really as much on our side.
Wasn’t the netroots borne out of self-criticism within the center-left? Our power came from criticizing the Dem Establishment. Surely if we continue that power can only grow
Well, I am part of the netroots and not partisan. However, the nonpartisan bloggers just do not get the visibility that your larger partisan blogs do like Kos. It doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Also, when the NPs point out how often Democratic bloggers and activists are used by the establishment for their own means, the former get chastised and even banned. I guess it easier calling the conservatives dumb sheep so we don’t have to look at our own failings.
Good post.