HeadlineUpdate

The Conventional Wisdom is (Almost) Always Wrong

It's an age old theme, perhaps best expressed by the philosopher Groucho Marx:

"Whatever it is, I'm against it."

Whether you call it conventional wisdom or the "prevailing view" as Thomas Mann prefers in his  excellent piece today in the Washington Post, it's headed for a train wreck. Can someone please start printing those old "Question Authority" buttons again? (True story. I was wearing one once and someone inquiringly approached me and said, "I have a question.")
Harold Meyerson said much the same thing in his piece the other day about how Ned Lamont is upsetting the CW and is going to beat Joe Lieberman. 
Thomas Mann cites the Republicans' "traditionally  higher turnout rates" and "vaunted get-out-the-vote operation" but I think that's going to prove to be their Achilles Heel this year.  There are so many local races generating massive Democratic enthusiasm that I see a "'trickle up" effect from the middle to the top of the ticket.  Republicans may end up losing some of their base this year as they continue to argue over stem cells and fences on the border.  Democrats, meanwhile, are finding new energy in that most old-fashioned political tool:  the door to door canvass.

Here in my part of Maryland, Jamie Raskin is generating massive grassroots enthusiasm in his race for State Senate as this short documentary makes clear.  Full disclosure:  I'm working on Jamie's campaign, but see for yourself why I and so many people think Jamie Raskin's campaign is a reminder of why we started out caring about politics in the first place. (For me, it has a lot to do with this quote from Robert Kennedy.  What inspired you?  Please comment below.)  One of the groups endorsing Jamie, 21st Century Democrats, has a slate of endorsed candidates at all levels of government who are in a position to strengthen the position of other Democrats on the ticket.

So the next time someone knocks on your door, or phones you at home, or (my favorite) sends you a mailing, remember the grassroots and I don't mean that one hit wonder band.  Back when he was mostly sensible, Ralph Nader, one of the many unlikely people I've written for over the years (including, in the same season, Walter Mondale, Jesse Jackson, Bishop Tutu and Mario Cuomo) used to talk about the "democracy toolbox" and in 2006, there's finally going to be one in the hands of every voter.  Watch out!

Why We Blog

The Washington Post has a front page story today about a self-described "angry" blogger. Of course I'm envious of My Left Wing's sticky eyeballs and today's ink, but I have to agree with the premise of the question the Post reporter asks (and, this being the Post, never answers):

Do the hundreds of thousands of daily visitors to Daily Kos, who sign their comments with phrases such as "Anger is energy," accomplish anything other than talking among themselves?

The article describes how My Left Wing's author composes what she calls her "long, sustained scream":

She will write about Darfur. The shame of it. The culpability of all Americans, including herself, for doing nothing. She will write something so filled with outrage that it will accomplish the one thing above all she wants from her anger: to have an effect.

"Darfur is not hopeless," she begins typing, and pauses.

"Ugh," she says.

"You are not helpless," she continues typing, and pauses again.

"Weak."

She deletes everything and starts over.

"WAKE THE [expletive] UP," she writes next...

And lo and behold, by the end of the article she's received 200 responses, including

"Thank you for the kick in the [expletive]."

"I wrote to my [expletive] so-called representatives."

"I also wrote to my [expletive] congressman to get off his [expletive] [expletive] and do the right [expletive] thing."

"You know what?" O'Connor says. "I did a good thing today." And for a moment, anyway, she isn't angry at all.

I don't buy this reasoning.  I've worked for tons of radical causes in my time, and hurled invective at the gates of authority more times than you can shake a stick at, if that's your idea of a good time.  But I'm also a professional writer and as I've written here and elsewhere, I believe in the value of professional writing when persuading people to make political decisions.  I've had direct mail clients who've lamented, can't we just write "send money now" on a postcard?  Nope.  It takes clever people like me to write words that get you to do hard things like voting or giving up some of your hard-earned dollars. Urgency, attacks, even anger all have their place, but all those angry people on the net should join me in memorizing my favorite Robert Kennedy quote, the one about "acts of courage and belief."  Optimism trumps pessimism in politics.  Keep Hope Alive!