TPMCafe Comments on “Blogs and the Democratic Party”
My post yesterday generated a lot of comments at TPMCafe…on the Vietnam War. This sort of thing happens a lot in comment threads: someone will make a small, tangential remark, someone else will disagree with the small remark and write a long response, others will chime in, and before you know it, you’ve got an active discussion thread that has absolutely nothing to do with the original post. But last night someone did offer a criticism that was actually about my post. I thought I’d share it here, along with my response.
The thing the author of this article fails to grasp is that the “blogosphere” is NOT a grassroots medium. It’s constituency is by and large pretty much a narrow slice of life.
It excludes a huge percentage of the population, it’s not representative, and leaders interested in representing the common interests of the people aren’t going to get examples of the diverse voices and needs of the people by relying on blogs and ‘net forums…
Your point about the blogosphere representing a “narrow slice of life” is correct. I never stated otherwise in my post, so I’m not sure why you’re making this a point of criticism. But it’s not as narrow as you suggest, and it continues to grow rapidly. Blogs do exclude a huge percentage of the population, but – with barely half of Americans voting in the first place – so does our political system. Those who don’t vote aren’t lazy or happy with the status quo. They don’t vote because they feel that the political system does not speak to their interests and doesn’t care about them. The blogosphere contains citizens who are deeply concerned with various political issues and are willing to devote time and money to candidates and causes. By trying to ignore and even villify the blogosphere, the Democratic Party is risking the loss of a vibrant and active part of its coalition. It might even drive many of them into the already too large camp of non-voters who are ignored by, and disenchanted with, our political system. Rebuffing energized people who are your natural allies, simply because you can’t control them, is a great way to maintain institutional control of the Party, and it’s also a great way to ensure permanent status as a minority party.
