After years at DU I have had a real epiphany.

[Speck Tater]

It's a lot more fun watching Democrats, than it is being a Democrat.

Watching Democrats is a real carnival sideshow.
Being a Democrat is just one frustration after another.

Don't get me wrong. I'm still a progressive; still a liberal. I'll still vote Democratic, and work to get Obama elected. I just don't think I particularly want to be a Democrat any more. It's too much like being among a lot of roosters in a fight ring trying to tear each other's throats out.

[cliffordu]

1. I think you're on to something here.....

[liberalmuse]

2. I'll go one further and say it's more fun watching humans than being human.

It's been a helluva 8 years, and I think it's wearing thin.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

7. I feel you Muse...

For me it seemed more like 6 years, the real opposition movement didn't seem to gain steam until the summer and fall of 2002 just before Iraq. But to be honest, haven't we all had a lot of fun poking jokes at the Repubbies all this time?

The verbal Bushisms. All the creative bumper stickers. All the signs and decorations at the protests. Our cracks at Bill O'Reilly and Faux News. Fahrenheit 9/11. The (failed) attempt to oust Bush in 2004 and the whole culture surrounding it. Keith Olbermann's tirades. The audacity of Cindy Sheehan. Trying to remember how to pronounce the name Boehner. How Deadeye Dick got his nickname. The GOP gay sex scandals. The 2006 midterms. The new green movement and climate change. The endless election cycle for 2008. Obama Girl and similar phenomena. Karl Rove's desperate last-ditch effort to avoid testimony.

And here we are...1/20/2009 is just a little over 6 months away. I suddenly find myself, of all things, afraid of this important date. For I know what to expect with a Texas alcoholic in the White House, but I'm not sure what either of the next two possible Presidents would do. Most of all I'm afraid that life for myself and for much of the progressive community might become boring should Obama take the Oval Office.

We'll have to find ways to make fun of an Obama administration if necessary. If not it can only mean one thing...time to get to work. Get to work on the specific plans and policies needed to change the course of this nation and build that new society we all want.

[vaberella]

3. go Independent....just be you.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

4. I was a bona-fide socialist for several years

Now I mainly want to work on breathing new life into the American left as a whole. My new vision is a "people's capitalism," with equal opportunity, labor rights, and sustainability as top goals. I also think we need to reinvent the left's image if we want to gain support. We need to look new, exciting, lively, and most importantly we need to show the world that we love living life and don't just spend all day grumbling.

[Cant trust em]

5. The party apparatus is a little tough to stomach. NT

[Tresalisa]

6. I agree. What a show it's been, too. Me, I've found a new hobby,

that helps bridge the gap between the online world and the real world, but I haven't quite gotten the hang of it, yet.

[Selatius]

8. Now you understand where George Carlin was coming from. He probably was more idealistic in youth.

But after frustration and frustration, he became what he called a "disappointed idealist," preferring to avoid the label "cynic."

I will likely continue to be in favor of free-market socialism, but I am under no illusions that it will ever come to the US.

[snowbear]

9. So you actually think that DU represents "Democrats as a whole"?

Damn.

If that's seriously how you think.

I'm glad you're not in our party .....

[Skittles]

10. we're not a bunch of goosesteppers

check out the freak republic if you want unanimity

[Barack_America]

14. No, it's more like chickens running around with their heads cut off...

If we're looking for "foul" analogies, that is.

;)

[wyldwolf]

11. fiziwig, taken as a whole, I've never seen a group that bears as litttle resemblance to...

Democrats as DU does.

It's the "progressives" (the hardcore ones) that give DU the sideshow feel.

[Catchawave]

12. Here's something that made me laugh....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6493627&mesg_id=6493627

The video is a hoot !

[SidneyCarton]

13. Amen!

Our party is a freakshow, a freakshow with a heart of gold, but a freakshow nonetheless. As for DU, I realize now that we essentially lurch from outrage to outrage, spewing our bile on the way with a few nuggets of wisdom and humor interspersed with the madness. The fun is in finding these nuggets, while chuckling uneasily at the mounting absurdity.