General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: A Short Note On The Democratic Party And The Progressive Left.... [View all]last1standing
(11,709 posts)This OP is wrong on two counts.
First, you only take to task the left wing of the party for attacking those "perhaps a bit to the right of them" and for using hyperbole. The attacks and hyperbole have been coming from both sides from the beginning in equal force. None of us can point to the first post here at DU that first insulted someone for being too left or too right so it seems a bit disingenuous to now suggest that this is a flaw of the left wing and not a flaw of many DUers in general.
So I ask; why does the left wing have to sit down and accept the insults and misleading characterizations of those in the center?
Second, I strongly believe you are wrong about the need to sit down at all. Just as your opinions and work for the party serve their purpose, so do ours. The more center aligned Democrats are there to bolster the party in what it does while the left wing is there to push what they do more toward the left. It is the difference between party advocacy and issue advocacy; each is necessary and good but will often come into conflict. That isn't a bad thing.
When you tell the left wing to stop pushing (which this OP effectively does), you ask that we stop doing the job we are meant to do.
What I will agree with you on (although you only alluded to the problem) is that the personal attacks have gotten out of control - on both sides. Cries of Paulbots, Obamabots, ODS, cultists, Traitors, and the like don't merely make DU less enjoyable, these insults push us farther away from each other making it more difficult to work together when we need to do so. The problem is that only one person can stop the personal insults but he has decided to leave it in the hands of those doing the insulting. I alerted on someone who called another poster a liar yesterday and the result was 5-1 to leave it alone. We used to have rules about this kind of thing but now we have factions (on both sides) controlling the situation. It is not working.