Reply #13: thoughts on unity [View All]

[welshTerrier2]

unity yields power ... in that sense, i.e. in a political arena, unity must be viewed as desirable ...

the exercise of "encapsulating" progressives into cognitive categories may provide a vehicle for us to begin to unify, within these categories, with people of like or similar attitudes ... there's certainly nothing wrong with a little introspection ... and it also may help us better understand others in the Party who see the "progressive" world somewhat differently ...

beyond just individual progressives, the Party itself needs to be more introspective ... i've written extensively that we cannot continue to let the Party's ongoing identity be defined by each new candidate we nominate ... we need to have a long-term "core" set of values and beliefs from which all policies are derived ... starting with a well-publicized "story" gives each and every Democratic candidate a huge headstart in explaining themselves to the voters ... as things are now, they have to keep reinventing the wheel ...

anyway, i'm afraid that introspection is not the central path, albeit a useful one, to building unity in the Party ... the issue of unity requires that all who want a voice be given a voice ... i've argued that the Party's platform should be open to every single Democrat ... the response I've gotten from Party insiders is that they have some kind of bureaucratic process that determines the platform ... you get elected to this and then you attend these meetings and blah, blah, blah ... the problem is that most people won't "get elected" because they are not Party insiders ... the bottom line is that people who may want to participate in defining the platform may not be given a voice in doing so ... and that's unacceptable ...

to digress, i've heard the same arguments about the Iraqi elections ... "the Sunnis chose not to participate so they don't have a say" ... this misses the point that unity has not been built just because elections that others consider legitimate have taken place ... the Democratic Party uses the same type of justification ... "what are you complaining about ??? we have a process for that !!!" ... the point is that, whether a "process" exists or not, whether people were elected democratically or not, unity is not developed when those who want a voice don't have one ... the "processes" only build unity when they are seen as truly open and legitimate by ALL interested parties ...

so, in conclusion, I value the importance of building unity in the Party ... the river's power is at its greatest after it has been joined by all the tributaries ... and understanding who we are and how we are the same and how we differ is always a valuable exercise ... but in the end, absent a real commitment by those with the greatest power to share that power, there can never be unity ...