Progressive Pecking Order

Conservatives will talk to anybody any time. Democrats, on the other hand, complain endlessly about how hard it is to get their message out, seemingly without a clue that it would be a lot easier if they weren't such a pain in the ass to deal with. - Joshua Holland

Back at the beginning of the month, I read with interest a snippet on AlterNet , 'Prying Open The Democrats,' in which a couple of their contributors and editors bemoaned their inability to get the Washington D.C. heirachy to pay attention or even return calls, while the Republicans seemed very organised and even happily willing to respond. It appears that they aren't the only ones, and that reporters complained throughout the election run-up that democrats were "being stand-offish and hard to get on the phone. They're not like those friendly Republicans, went the refrain." Jan Friel, AlterNet's political editor, answers in advance the charge that AlterNet isn't exactly Time Magazine so why should they expect attention just because they have a story by pointing out that in her experience it's only the Democrats who present a problem, not the other bigwigs she has to deal with.

This ties in nicely with the AlterNet/MoveOn agenda - namely that D.C. Democrats really are elitist, in the pockets of the corporations and unable to offer a strong alternative to Bush's take on Thatcherism as conceived by Karl Rove. They wish to take on the mantle of leadership of the progressive movement by advocating a grassroots driven populism using the internet as an enabling technology for conversation and fundraising. At least, being a Brit living in Texas, that is how I understand their agenda and if I understand it right then I am entirely in favour of it!

Yet the progressive, MoveOn supporting, blogosphere is just as guilty of being unresponsive and elitist in it's attitudes, which may well become a crucial flaw in the system. The major progressive bloggers (Matt, Kevin, Kos, Atrios etc.) all quote each other, but rarely if ever make the effort to quote someone who is not a relative equal in the unspoken pecking order. I say unspoken, but one major blogging format actually formalises it as an 'ecosystem'. If you are a lowly insignificant microbe in the liberal blogger ecosystem then, no matter what you have to say or how eloquently it is said, you should not count on aid from the bigger fish in the pond to make your point known or to call attention to your work as a whole.

A few days ago, I was reading comments on one of the big liberal blogs that complained about how the largest right-wing bloggers seem to find, groom and promote other right-wing bloggers. The gist of the comments were that it was all a conspiracy to find extra propagandists for the Republicans, extra mouthpieces to spout Bush's agenda. The comments seemed incredibly shortsighted to me. For one, magazines like Capitalism Magazine or Reason are continually publishing new work from new commentators because they, like MichNews online, realise that fresh voices, fresh perspectives, on their shared ideology are a very healthy thing. Without encouraging new blood, a movement can too easily become trapped into incestious back-patting and stagnate - exactly what MoveOn have accused the DNC of doing. Secondly, even if it is all a right-wing plot, why the hell not? It's an incredibly effective tactic to raise up another friendly voice and say "our opinions are not exactly the same on every issue but we recognise our common ground is greater than our differences", far more effective than the faction fighting which may yet become the club which the right will beat the progressive movement to death with. If liberals are elitist amongst themselves, what chance of convincing the man or woman in the street to vote against the right?

All this may be sour grapes from one of those insignificant microbes, but if you are a liberal blogger at the lower end of the pecking order, I am betting you don't think so. Post a comment to agree or disagree. Link to this article on your site.

If you are one of the big fish in the ecosystem and happen to read this, do you agree? Are you truly a believer in "from the grassroots" politics? Try mentioning this article with a link and see what your commenters feel. You never know, we may all learn something from the right-wingers which will help us beat them.

Regards, Steve Hynd (Cernig)