An Unauthorized Appeciation Thread for DUer, Scuba ...

[woo me with science]

16. Enthusiastically reccing for Scuba's sterling contributions to DU, but

utterly rejecting what I see as a slippery Third Way attempt to

1. praise Scuba and and give lip service acknowledgement to Scuba's frequent strong criticism of corporatist policies and politicians.....


2. while simultaneously and in utter self-contradiction suggesting that only posts that "put President Obama and Democrats in a positive light" are acceptable here and that anything else is "anti-Democrat" or "anti-Obama."

I see no rash of "anti-Democrat" and "anti-Obama" posts or "pile-ons" here at DU whatsoever. I do see citizens speaking out candidly and powerfully, as they should during election season, about what they want and need and expect from politicians who are running to REPRESENT them. For politicians who are truly seeking to represent their constituents, these kinds of conversations should be *welcomed,* because they give the politicians the opportunity to demonstrate their responsiveness and everything they are doing for voters.

I tire of the repeated attempts by the same, predictable group to silence and scold voters for speaking candidly about what we expect from our politicians and party in terms of both policy and election strategy, particularly during the season that is specifically designed for them to be most accessible and responsive to such discussion. I wrote a post a while back about this, which I'll repost here:

Sun Oct 7, 2012, 10:03 AM
woo me with science (28,997 posts)

It's time for this destructive meme about shutting up during elections to stop,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021488072

Last edited Mon Oct 8, 2012, 12:36 PM - Edit history (1)

once and for all.

We have in recent years witnessed a creeping, growing, extremely disturbing line of argument on political discussion boards about shutting up (On edit: Or restricting our participation to adulatory praise) during elections, as though it is a given that good citizens must silence themselves so as not to disturb the delicate strategies being implemented by our parties. Or that they should not ask questions, because they will upset these delicate plans...

This week, we actually heard this garbage move beyond political discussion boards and come from one of the the campaigns itself:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021483594

This bid for silence is an affront to everything our representative political process is supposed to be about. It is a flagrantly antidemocratic demand for passivity by the governed, and it's an outrageous, dangerous meme that we need to stop dead in its tracks. Our entire political system is built around and depends upon government responsiveness to the people's voices. It's called representative government, and vigorous citizen participation in the political process is at the heart and the core of it. *Especially* during election seasons.

This new, outrageous claim that citizens should silence themselves during elections, or restrict themselves to praise, is a corruption of everything elections are supposed to be about in this country.

We have a serious problem of growing corporate control and authoritarianism in this country and in our two political parties. We are living in a time of "free speech zones," ....as though our entire country should not be a zone for free speech....and assaults on peaceful protesters.

It is well past time that the people of America speak out clearly and remind our politicians on both sides that they work for us....not the other way around.

So the next time someone tells you that you need to be quiet or obediently restrict your commentary to praise because it is election season, let them know in no uncertain terms they have it exactly backwards. The very health and survival of our representative government depends on our willingness to speak out and make clear what we expect from our elected representatives. Our power and our responsibility are in our voices....*especially* during elections.

128 Recs

Frankly, if I were Scuba, I would resent your attempt here to use a post that ostensibly honors my contributions in order to take a swipe at other DUers......to mischaracterize and smear as "anti-Obama" or "anti-Democrat" the important continued use of this board as a venue for discussion about what we expect fom our party and how to leverage our power to achieve it.... rather than as a place for submissive participation in an advertising machine where only adulatory posts are welcome.