...I'm excited that the Daily Kos blogroll is now featuring these organizing heroes. As we evolve as a movement, it'll be the Albany Projects, Raising Kaines, Burnt Orange Reports, Calitics and other sites like them that will transform the way we wage politics.
Thanks Markos, we're excited too. And believe us, we're not planning to rest on our laurels after helping to elect Tim Kaine and Jim Webb the past two years. Au contraire, we are making plans for what is in many ways an even more ambitious goal: creating and maintaining an enduring Democratic majority in (soon-to-be-formerly "red") Virginia. Stay tuned over coming weeks and months for more details on this.
Anyway, back to Markos' diary, in which he talks about the transformation to group and commmunity blogs, as we have done here on Raising Kaine with the help of powerful SoapBlox technology:
Bowers wrote that the progressive blogosphere is evolving away from single-blogger sites to group efforts.
When the progressive, political blogosphere began, it was structured in pretty much the same fashion as the conservative political blogosphere. Almost every single major progressive blog was founded and operated by a single individual. However, starting in late 2003 with the introduction of a scoop platform to Dailykos, a process began where highly trafficked, highly linked progressive blogs continued to innovate far beyond the structure of a single blogger sole, mainly punditry oriented, content provider.It's a dramatic change, and one that I find exciting. Many of these group blogs are moving beyond mere pontification to getting shit done. Raising Kaine was a powerhouse during both our successful governor's race in 2005 and the dramatic Jim Webb victory...
I like that: "beyond mere pontification to getting shit done." That pretty much sums up my attitude to blogging. This is not just for "fun" or laughs, although some of the time it is fun and laughs. This is not just for spewing forth to the world, although there's plenty of spewing that goes on (including by yours truly, no doubt). This is not just for one-off, one-time political victories, although we've had one or two of those in which we played a part. No, this is for "getting shit done," as Markos so correctly and bluntly writes. And here in Virginia, the shit that what needs getting done is:
1) Keeping an eye on the Virginia General Assembly, supporting good legislation and blasting the hell out of the bad/irresponsible/nasty stuff that the Bob Marshalls of the world propose.
2) Taking back the State Senate THIS YEAR. For instance, we need to back Chap Petersen and Janet Oleszek in their races this year as hard as we backed Jim Webb last year.
3) Winning as many House of Delegates seats as we can THIS YEAR, and maybe taking back that chamber as well.
4) Making Virginia a "swing state" for the 2008 Presidential election, if at all possible.
5) Winning another U.S. Senate seat for the Democrats in 2008.
6) Keeping control of the Governor's mansion in 2009.
7) Pushing ahead with a Progressive agenda for Virginia on health care, education, environment, energy, civil liberties, transportation, you name it.
If we in the "netroots" succeed at accomplishing any or all of this, we can consider all the time we spend thinking and working on politics to have been worthwhile. If not...well, we're not going to think about failure. The bottom line is that we HAVE TO succeed, for the future of our state, the future of our country, even the future of our planet. So let's get to work!