Whither Obamacare?

[CountDeMoney]

I did my bit for the College Republicans.

[PDH]

Lee Atwater is laughing at you from the grave.

[grumbler]

I'll leave the sneering to you, don't want to get on your schtick. My little aside was just that Languish is not a "grassroots"-friendly forum, and, to the extent that we have political activists, it's BarristerBoy, who is conservative, and Mihali, who rarely shows up now.  A lot prefers to sneer at any sort of political engagement or passion.  Sometimes, for good reason. But many times, for bad reasons too. 

I love the sneering about the lack of political activism, when it is your ignorance of the political activism of forumites that is on display here.  It is arrogant to assume that, if you don't know about it, it doesn't exist.

[Eddie Teach]

Grumbler is active at trying to convince people on the internet their political opinions are all wrong.

[grumbler]

Grumbler is active at trying to convince people on the internet their political opinions are all wrong.

Teach isn't even active at that. 

[Oexmelin]

  Perhaps, in real life, most forum members are amazing grassroots activists, and it's just the general tone of the forum that hides it so well. I only have what we all have: more than fifteen years of collected interventions and judgment calls about activism, activists in general, political conviction, etc.  I would be thrilled to learn I am wrong about the political activism of forum members. 

[viper37]

You know, for all the Bernie Love I keep coming across for somebody who was never a member of the Democratic Party, I have yet to come across anybody that can actually remember him saying something--anything--regarding foreign policy.  Ever.

Wasn't his plan to pull troops from the fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan?  Or maybe that was just Trudeau.  I tend to confuse the clowns, sometimes.

[Ed Anger]

I hate everybody.

[Admiral Yi]

  Perhaps, in real life, most forum members are amazing grassroots activists, and it's just the general tone of the forum that hides it so well. I only have what we all have: more than fifteen years of collected interventions and judgment calls about activism, activists in general, political conviction, etc.  I would be thrilled to learn I am wrong about the political activism of forum members.

I don't understand your adoration of grassroots activism.  What has it ever achieved?  To me it seems most suited to getting a bunch of like-minded people together who can tell each other how great they are.

[FunkMonk]

You know who else were grassroots activists?

Nazis.

[FunkMonk]

Boom

[Oexmelin]

I don't understand your adoration of grassroots activism.  What has it ever achieved?  To me it seems most suited to getting a bunch of like-minded people together who can tell each other how great they are.

QED.

Anyways, these are a bunch of related questions. My adoration of grassroots activism stems from my political belief, and ethical commitment that it is the heart of what democratic polity is about, and which prevents voting from being an empty ritual repeated periodically. The kind of things which continues to create clones of Mono in our societies.

As for what it has achieved, historically, there are many, many things. It has achieved regulations for worker protection and health, voting rights for woman, civil rights, etc., etc. Even the loathsome Tea Party emerged from grassroots activism, and though we can certainly think their achievements are terrible, they did succeed in electing sociopaths in the Congress, and these have a real effect now.

And if, indeed, grassroots activism is just people congratulating themselves, à la social media, it can have two effects: it can energize the base, which can make the difference in getting the vote out, and it can also suffocate the movement, generating their own divisions rather than get militant out to speak to others. And though it is certainly a risk, it's not the whole of it.

[HVC]

You know who else were grassroots activists?

Nazis.

[Razgovory]

  Perhaps, in real life, most forum members are amazing grassroots activists, and it's just the general tone of the forum that hides it so well. I only have what we all have: more than fifteen years of collected interventions and judgment calls about activism, activists in general, political conviction, etc.  I would be thrilled to learn I am wrong about the political activism of forum members.

Well, most of us don't work on college campuses and as such we have a lower tolerance for children with bullhorns.

[FunkMonk]

You know who else were grassroots activists?

Nazis.