Monday, December 13, 2004

Just A Quick Check-In

Things have been so busy that I haven't had much chance to put down the things that I've wanted to comment on, and I still have the rest of the gift guide to finish. So light entries till then.

But I pay attention, and I'm sick to death of reading Dems like Beinart pointing fingers and suggesting the party give the old heave-ho to some of its most loyal supporters. What kind of self-hating dynamic infests our people that they insist on tossing people out of the lifeboat instead of plugging the holes in the hull? Why do Dems so gladly air their dirty laundry and fractionalize at the drop of a hat, while Repubs circle the wagons? Their moderates allow themselves to be trotted out like so much eye candy when their party tells them to, and fatalistically ignore their own marginalization the rest of the time. I'm not suggesting that such destructive self-effeacement is what Dems should aim for, but we could learn a few things about loyalty from our opposite numbers.

The problem is that no one is focusing on the commonalities that we all agree on, and that separate us from the Republican platform. Until that happens, we will continue to atomize what's left of our cohesion, and the power we began to discover during the grassroots organizing of the election will dwindle to nothing.

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