Bridge Madison is a writer and political commentator with backgrounds in corporate and professional liability law, critical analysis, and cultural studies.
The Democratic Party has at least ideologically supported the kind of participation we see from the progressive blogosphere, but now it's a case of "be careful what you wish for." I'm not sure the party knows what to do with us. Frankly, that's because they're using an outdated right-wing playbook which calls for information control, something the blogosphere defies by definition.
If you're going to have participatory government, you have to listen to the governed. Controlling the flow of information just blocks access to the governed. My advice then to the Democratic Party is simply listen to progressive bloggers (not pollsters) and acknowledge what we're calling for -- which is basically for the party to move forward not left. That's apparent from the netroots checklist below, compiled from my review of numerous political blogs. Some items may be overstated and I may have forgotten other important issues, but generally, speaking, we want:
· WI-08: Wingnut plans to run as "conservative independent" (desmoinesdem)
· 50 percent of southerners say Obama better president than Bush (desmoinesdem)
· What Yesterday Says About Young Voters (Mike Connery)
· Max Blumenthal on the dysfunctional movement driving the GOP (Mike Connery)
· IA-Gov: Culver launches second tv ad (desmoinesdem)
· Hilarious Vid On Why We Must Vote No On Issue 2!! (Cliff Schecter)
· NY-23: Scozzafava Drops Out! (lipris)
· NY-23: Pataki Goes Rogue, Endorses Teabagger Darling Doug Hoffman (lipris)
· Dunne Considering Run For VT-Gov (Nathan Empsall)
· McGovern Grandson Looks to Challenge Thune in 2010 (Jonathan Singer)
· IA-03: Two potential challengers for Boswell (desmoinesdem)
· NJ-Gov: Daggett Goes After Christie and Corzine (Jonathan Singer)
