Great Politics
by alw, Thu Oct 19, 2006 at 02:33:00 PM EST
First diary here on MYDD. I'm writing just to underline my own enthusiasm about the "wire-transfer" idea -- which has emerged really suddenly but could be remembered for a long time to come. It's great politics on a number of levels. Some thoughts:
1. It's a targeted and specific issue.
- It's winnable.
- It's a collective action -- both to try to effect this change and if the change takes place.
- It challenges the system without completely rejecting the system. (which is part of why its winnable). What Bowers has identified is a classic blind spot. I think we should emphasize the "carrot" over the "stick". If safe Democratic incumbents do step up, they should -- ad I think they can -- benefit politically, winning confidence from the netroots.
- If we can win this, it will potentially have a huge impact on the midterm elections. Relatively small effort for this kind of huge potential impact.
- It's a new way of making citizens active, and putting constituents in touch with their representatives. Safe incumbents are generally well-liked but there's rarely the kind of political friction that actually generates more meaningful interaction. Here's an opportunitty for the many, many Democrats in gerrymandered districts to actually interact directly with their reps, rather than always following the "battleground" races that are taking place elsewhere.
- It's long-term thinking AND short-term at the same time. This is a way of changing the dynamics of the party AND of pragmatically helping races that are happening right now. It breaks down, almost entirely, the opposition between winning this election cycle and the 50-state, social-movement DNC model.
Tags: activism (all tags)
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