Reply #57: Well, yeah. [View All]

[LoZoccolo]

But I'd argue that much of what we see here, like this push to get Democrats run out of office to replace them, is just so much instigation in itself. I think a lot of people have convinced themselves that there's this shortcut to participating in democracy, that if they cause a ruckus on the Internet (at little or no expense to their reputation because they are hiding behind handles) they'll create this scary impression that they are going to do and say crazy things if they don't get what they want from the elected officials. It's street theater, and they hope Obama and the rest are listening, but maybe they don't see how much they are distracting the real activists and poisoning the discourse that the new people who want to get involved see every time they come here and other liberal sites. It's a shame, because people could be out there actually creating enough consensus in the electorate to get what they want; instead, they're trying this cheap and ineffective shot at freaking out the people who've paid their dues and won the offices.