I went through the past year of big story posts that I considered for 2013 and I love DU.
Out of curiosity I went through the past years' posts, sometimes rec'd by me, sometimes where I posted. Syria, a big deal for me because I supported Obama but hoped he'd do the right thing, he did (DU was hating on him for that one, and even I was critical, but it turned out OK). Gun control, didn't participate much in those, not because I support guns or am anti-gun but because what needed to be said was said (ie, most DUers support gun regulations).
Snowden / NSA / GG, what a glorious amount of posts that garnered (some people got banned over that one), I personally went from being elated to concerned that we're not getting as many releases as I envisioned. It wasn't a Wikileaks dump. DOMA, filibusters, man it goes on and on, the coup in Egypt, Latin American politics (which I follow closely, most of DU probably doesn't care much about). Don't get me started about "Obamacare." The budget, the shutdown, the restart of government. I really can't think of one issue that has really reverberated with me.
All I can say is after going through some 200+ posts over the last few hours is that I love DU. I can be critical, I think that a lot of times if you post a raw policy post it will sink like a brick but if you rephrase that same post and make it controversial you'll get a lot of replies (difference between "Center for American Progress suggests C-CPI proposal with anti-poverty inclusions" and "C-CPI is a CUT that will DESTROY AMERICA"
. I can say I don't like that about DU. Yeah some of us are policy wonks, legislation freaks, we want to see the raw wording of something without the drama. But so what, after reading some 200+ posts in 2013 I've concluded that DU is still a place I come to daily for political news and discussion.
I haven't posted very much lately because it's the holidays and I haven't been in the mood. I've particularly neglected the E&E group where I normally hang out and post. But it's been good. (I suggest subscribing to that group because we're good people, and I think climate change will have larger repercussions than politics in the coming years, but I digress.)
Disagreements, flamefests, whole nine yards, DU is a great place to come if you want to slog it out and you're left leaning, politically. Note: politically. I'm anti-political ideologically, but I still love the shit out of some political slogging, debating, arguing. I don't know where that comes from, but I'm glad it's there, because I'd be missing a lot of interesting, substantive philosophical discussion. I personally hate law and legislative stuff because I helped a number of my family members edit their law / criminal justice / public administration essays for school. They suck at Word but I can clean up their essays for school so they employ me to do so (not for pay, but as a family benefit; I don't consider it cheating per say, just cleaning up their work; my near 70 year old mom in particular can't use Word for crap, but she graduated in 2012 in Political Science and it warms my heart to help her continue on with her education, she loves that stuff, just is enamored with it).
But when it comes to being a political junkie? Shit, I dig it, I love it, I love how things are so unpredictable, I love how people argue from every spectrum here. I even enjoy how people, not knowing me personally or ideologically, just assume crap, because I get to play the political game of rhetoric and words and philosophy.
Happy Holidays, ya'll. Christmas, Hanukkah, festivus, whatever you celebrate, it's been a good, positive year. 2012 was a droll, it was really a political year with elections and whatnot, but 2013 had some really dramatic, touching, wonderful moments, and so far anyway, it turned out OK, with the exception of some really tragic events (the Philippines comes to mind, but not alone). 2012 had some of the biggest trolls here who wanted Obama to lose, who increasingly used right wing sources to challenge the administration, Ron Paul and their ilk was championed. It was so frustrating and time consuming and tiring (especially for someone suffering depression). 2013, we had our upsides and our down sides, but everything really has worked out, for the most part. Not everything was achieved. DOMA got shut down, Obamacare, while a rough start, got launched (and 2014 will be its big year), Syria, we avoided a catastrophe having Obama acting against the MIC (unlike Bush did Iraq, illegally invading that country without UNSC permission).
Of course, Congress, naturally, did nothing, because the House is full of do-nothing right wing teabaggers. But still. We managed to ride the waves of a shutdown and got the government reopened again and maybe, just maybe, we can take back the House and keep the Senate if we keep reminding the American public of what the Republicans did.
Overall though, I think it's been a decent year. Thanks DU for the enjoyable conversations and interesting discussions, even if I've disagreed with many here. I know before the site removed Ignoring Users on the Transparency page I had a lot of DUers ignoring me. Maybe it went up, I don't care. I know reading those past posts the arguments I had, I enjoyed every one of them, and respect almost every individual I came across. DU is just that special, where a poster can come and respect the vast majority of respondents. Try that on Reddit, you'll be downvoted to oblivion, but here, you can have your say and the community run jury will tell you if you're misbehaving (and yes I had a few moments the past year, too, I admit it, but emotions were high).
Here's to a good and prosperous 2014. May we get a 2016 candidate we're all likely to support. Sorry for that last sentence, but it's something I really hope happens, DU unity, particularly after Obamacare launched and after Syria happened is something I've not experienced for years. I love that spirit of unity and support of one another. We need that again if we're going to win in 2014.