"Party Loyalty" and the Purpose of Parties (warning: Long read)

[LWolf]

13. I'm thinking.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Our perspectives are based in our background knowledge and experience, and as we broaden both of those things, perspectives can change.

I'm a Lone Wolf. I can, and do, work in groups to achieve things. I work better alone.

Politically, I've always been the same. I was a "decline to state" until 2000, when I became a Democrat simply to protest the selection. Up until then, I'd voted for many Democrats and some 3rd party candidates. If I thought about Democrats, it was to appreciate them not being Republicans, but I didn't think much about them.

And no, I obviously didn't get involved in campaigns. I was raised by a working single mom who found time to march for Civil Rights and to be engaged outside the party system when she could. I did the same. It was always about issues, not politicians.

In the 15 years that I've been a Democrat, I have attended a few local party meetings. I always intend to do more, and then don't. Keeping up with my job and my other family responsibilities leaves me, at the end of the day, both physically and mentally exhausted. Often to the point of falling asleep at 7 or 7:30 without ever making it to bed. So, when all my duties for a day have been fulfilled, if I'm still awake, I'm generally not jumping out the door to go do something else. As a morning person, by then my brain isn't functioning all that well, anyway. Right now, I'm engaging in your post, because it's 5:45 am, and my brain is awake. I'll have to cut this short in just a minute to head to work.

I didn't come to DU because of it's loyalty to the Democratic Party. I found DU in '02, a couple of years after it was founded, and became a member in January '03. Having lived for decades in hard red regions, it was refreshing to find people I could relate to. There has always been tension at DU between it's opposing self-identification. Back then, though, DU actually self-identified as a "left-wing" site. That changed with DU3 and the election of a Dem POTUS. It now says "liberal," which is open to different definitions. Partisan concerns always trumped left-wing or liberal ideology, and even more so as DU has come up from underground and become more mainstream. I'm not a partisan. Issues will always trump partisan concerns for me.

For myself, I have to say that what DU has taught me about partisan politics hasn't been positive. My perspective on the Democratic Party is less positive now than it was when I was an independent supporting many Democrats. At the same time, I've "met" a lot of great people, and learned a great deal.

Your remarks about local politics resonate very strongly with me. I've seen how powerfully that's worked for Republicans, and I actually think Democrats and the left wing of America (they certainly aren't the same thing,) would be better served focusing on local efforts and building coalitions from the bottom up, because we've seen how the top is corrupted by big money.

I've also seen how Republicans make progress by not giving up, not backing down, even when they lose because America "isn't ready." Because when they don't quit, they might lose in the short term, but somehow what seemed "crazy" at one time becomes the norm. The Democrats have failed at this, always willing to compromise by backing down, backing up, and giving up ground.

I also get "collective action fatigue." When we are energized to come together to achieve a goal, and we fail, it's easy to give up. It's hard to sustain that time and energy. In all honesty, it's the issues that are the goals, that motivate me. Whatever energy or passion or time I've got is given to that. I have nothing to give to candidates who don't represent those goals, or to a Political Party that doesn't represent me. And yes, I know about the messy process. I know it's not easy, and it's not fun.

I can see that collective action fatigue kicking in next summer, if people who have been energized and busy for a year, having hope for authentic change, are forced to accept another status quo candidate. I don't see the same enthusiasm and time being devoted in the GE.

I've thought that, maybe when I retire and I'm not at work for 10-11-12 hours a day, I'll have more time and energy for local involvement. Maybe.

I wonder if time and resource exhaustion, if a life overloaded with duties, is why many people are not showing up to work locally. I'm probably not alone.