I'm generally not the type to post metadiaries, but this one ties in a little bit more closely to the topic of Democratic constituencies and the 50 state strategy, so why not?
Kos' recent story about redistricting in Texas brought on a lot of insulting comments towards Texans and other Southerners, beginning with the relatively benign "they deserve their political loss" to more execrable jokes and slams at the people living in those areas. I wrote a diary on Louisiana way back, when fury at the state's draconian anti-abortion law turned into a similar dismissal of all things Southern. At the time, I argued that anti-Southern sentiments were antithetical to our stated political goals, and the only thing that's changed since then is the particular target and our level of federal power.
Otherwise, we're revisiting some familiar territory:
Look, I understand people are frustrated with the directions that Republicans have taken this country; and I understand that the peculiar blend of social conservativism in the South is one of our most difficult hurdles to overcome. I know you feel like they've made your life hell by demonizing you (as a gay man from the South, trust me, I understand), they've fought against civil rights, they've scuttled dialogue, and their list of positive acheivments over the last decade or so is probably shorter than your grocery list.
But we're supposed to be the party of sympathetic understanding, so try out this thought experiment: imagine being born into a small Southern community, attending Church and Sunday school, growing up in a town that teaches moral values and Godliness, learning that God created the world in 6 days - and then all of a sudden a bunch of people you don't know are calling you an idiot at best and an inbred deformity at worst.
What's the reaction you expect? A sudden "oh yeah, I guess you're right!" is probably not the most likely.
For a community that prides itself - rightly - on defending the essential humanity of the defenseless, sometimes the anger at conservatives boils over into something much more sinister than partisan politics. How can we go from diaries defending the essential humanity of people kicked off a plane for the color of their skin and the trappings of their religion, and then do a complete 180 and write comments about toothless yokels who ought to be cut adrift in their own stupidity.
Maybe you don't buy the essential humanity argument. But what about Dean's 50 state strategy, which is not titled "50 states, but feel free to chop off any of those Southern backwaters who probably deserve it." Remember when we got - rightly - furious at Begala for making snide comments about "nose-picking" in Mississippi? Now we're turning around and calling the entire state something much worse.
- I don't want to hear that they "deserve" it because of their politics. Their politics are our politics, and if you don't like it, you have to work to change it;
- I don't want to hear that they're "backwards", because that shows bottomless arrogance on the part of the "englightened" people who say it, but also because it's counterproductive on so many levels;
- I don't want to hear that you'd be better off without the South, because you don't get to make that decision - I want to hear instead how you can harnass the positives of the South (and there are very, very many) into something that uplifts us all as a whole;
- I don't want to hear "they do it, too", with an argument that, because Texas supposedly treats everyone else with disdain, they deserve it in kind. No, they don't, and since when is "they do it, too" a good argument for anything?
Here's how I ended that Louisiana diary, and I still stick by every word I wrote:
It may be, as rudgrl put it in her recent diary, "A certain, and far too large, percentage of the American population are mouth breathing troglodytes, and always will be." But if that's true, why support the 50 state strategy at all? Why not agree that Mississippi and Utah - and now Louisiana - are troglodyte strongholds?
We don't agree because we acknowledge that strongholds only become strongholds when the other side has allowed its presence to dwindle. That's the essence of Dean's strategy, and the contempt it received from Begala is not entirely different than the contempt some people have shown for the state of Louisiana.
So my question for the community is this: do we take the Dean route, roll up our sleeves, and get to work building grassroots efforts in Louisiana, or do we take the Begala route and avoid Louisiana completely?
Either way, let's give some respect to the liberals who have stayed behind, who are sitting on their porches in New Orleans, angry that the state around them has veered hard Right, frightened that violent crime has taken a sudden upswing, depressed that large chunks of the city are still in shambles, and uncertain as hell about the future. The last thing they need is to be dismissed by the rest of us. They need a bit of our support right now, if you can spare it.
That's my two cents, and I expect that there will be some opposition. But in that Texas diary, some of the comments shocked me enough to repost on this topic, and I hope at least you'll consider the implications of writing off so many of your fellow Kossacks, at that.