I Enjoy Being Right, Sometimes

Interesting article in the Washington Post about how the Democrats (Or the Liberals, the Progressives, or whatever it is we're supposed to call ourselves before Rush, Hannity, and the rest of the chattering idiots figure out how to shame us with it and force us to rebrand once again.) have established a stronger foothold on the web than their conservative counterparts. Which, with the spirit withering effects of the past six or more years, it's not hard to see why people have flocked to the web in order to find like-minded souls. And, it should prove a good resource for years to come.

However, what caught my eye is down at the bottom of the first page (online, anyway.) around the tenth paragraph or so. Namely, this passage:

"What was once seen as a liability for Democrats and progressives in the past -- they couldn't get 20 people to agree to the same thing, they could never finish anything, they couldn't stay on message -- is now an asset," Leyden said. "All this talking and discussing and fighting energizes everyone, involves everyone, and gets people totally into it."

-Washington Post, Online - GOP Is Playing Catch-up May 21st, 2007

Which, as an idea I've long believed myself, is nice to see getting widerspread acceptance. I've been struggling for months to put it into writing but, basically, the chief advantage the Democratic Party has over the Republicans is how distributed it is. As Mr. Zuniga goes on to say in the following 'graph, he functions as his site's “mayor” with everyone else “doing their own thing, managing their own projects, while I keep the plumbing running.”

As someone who's had some experience running and maintaining large sites (Though, of course, nothing on the scale or success of Daily Kos, of course.) I think that's an apt metaphor. Not only for how to successfully ride herd over the assembled masses of the internets, but how to guide and nuture any group.

Our leaders aren't there to guide us by the hand, to make our decisions for us or to dictate our course of action, they're put in place to keep the machinery running while we all enjoy the benefits. And we all contribute. Motives for taking part matter less than participating in whatever it is that lets our many various interests find a common purpose, a common cause, and a common destination. Some people are out to make a profit, some people are out to be generous, some people you have no clue, but, as a leader, what you care about is the final result. That somehow, someway, the machinery finds a way to keep ticking and you wake up the next day with things better, somehow, someway, somewhere, than they the day before. Your role, the job of leadership is to establish the rules, to enforce them if necessary, that make all that possible. To do the policing, to put out the fires, to make the trains run on time, to sit people down and work out their differences, and to somehow make it all work while everyone gets to do their own thing. It might be easier to rule by fiat, to grab every and any shred of power because no one else can be trusted with it, but it's nowhere near as effective – happy cows give more milk. And there's no way to make people more happy, more productive, than to let them have a stake, a say, in the outcome of things.

Whether that's for the squabbling fanboys and girls I've had personal experiences with or for a broad, national political party without a single, unifying principle or even a vast, democratic nation, it's as good a governing principle as any I've seen for being diverse and inclusive. The leaders serve the people, the people power everything – it's been called a lot of things, but I like “democracy” the best. Can't beat a classic.

But more than that, I think it's a possible way forward for the whole liberal/progressive movement as a whole. A unifying force that anyone who'd fall under the Democratic umbrella could accept. A message – that government is there to keep the machinery of modern civilization running, to ensure a basic fairness and equality whether it's in business or civil rights or whatever other issues you might like not to tell you how to live your life. You want to be part of it, great, join in and help out whereever and however you can.

Such an arrangement isn't stable. If by stable you mean everyone's on the same page and agrees about absolutely everything. It's anathema to the totalitarian mindsets that are attracted to conservatism, for one. And, as the quoted passage says, it's been painted as a flaw in the Democratic makeup for so long, it's almost a given. Internalized in the liberal narrative. That we're weak and disunified, that we squabble, bicker, and can never seem to speak with one voice.

But that's not a weakness. That's a strength. We speak in many voices. We're a choir. Singing to ourselves, in harmonies and resonance, each of us with only part of the overall tune. It's beautiful when we sing about the same thing because not only do we know how to disagree, how to argue and fight for our points and beliefs, we also know how to agree. How to compromise and find a way forward. In short, we're practiced at the kind of things you have to do to, well, govern.

There's no one version of the Democratic party. No one line for everyone to tow. And that's a good thing. Because it certainly beats the alternative.