We are Democrats - All of Us

[NanceGreggs]

242. Think about it.

Who benefits when Democrats are encouraged to fight among themselves? Who benefits when Democrats are encouraged to see each other as enemies? Who benefits when Democrats talk about "purging" the party of leftists, centrists, moderates, etc.?

Hint: It's NOT the Democratic Party.

This site has become infested with RW trolls. They agitate, they provoke infighting, they have nothing positive to say about any Democrat. Everything wrong in the world is Obama's fault, Pelosi's fault, Reid's fault, etc. Nothing is ever the fault of Republicans.

They host groups, they sit on juries. And sadly, they have enthusiastic followers among the easily-manipulated here - and there are many who fall into that category.

Better Believe It was the perfect case in point. Many of us saw him for who he was from the beginning - but we were told by his many fans that he was a "great progressive voice", and his constant attacks on Democrats were merely representative of the disappointment towards the Party that many were feeling. Three years and 18,000 posts later, he finally outed himself as a RWer, who had been posting RW talking points under the guise of being just another "disappointed Dem" who wanted to "take his party back" from the clutches of "the party PTB who were "selling out their fellow Democrats" to "Wall Street", "the corporations", and the "1%". Sound familiar?

Just look at the threads here on any given day. There are more attacks on Democrats than there are Republicans. There are more attacks on fellow DUers than there are on members of the GOP.

One by one, Dems who were held in high regard here are thrown under the bus. And the easily-led jump on the bandwagon the minute they see their DU friends do so. Posters are encouraged to identify themselves as part of smaller and smaller factions: FDR Dems, far left Dems, LBJ Dems, the Warren-wing Dems, the Democratic wing of the Party dems - divide and conquer. And amazingly enough, these posters actually talk about ridding the Party of those who don't pass their purity tests. Seriously now, who benefits from the Dem Party actually being smaller, with less voters and supporters? And these people have actually convinced themselves that if they purge everyone from the party they don't like - large swaths of people - they can get their candidates-of-choice elected with absolute ease.

The fact that any call for civility or - heaven forefend, actual unity - is met with "don't tell me to STFU, don't tell me what to think," etc. - when many of those posters are literally being manipulated day in and day out by the RWers they've come to accept as "true progressives", simply because they know which "buzz words" to use as bait to fish in the sheep.

I was here during the 2008 primaries, and we fought like rabid dogs: the Obama people, the Clinton people, the Edwards people, the Biden people. But no one ever called someone in another candidate camp a "non progressive, a centrist, a DINO, a ConservaDem." No one questioned another's Dem credentials on the basis of which candidate they supported. Now take a look around - the incessant labeling and name-calling has far overshadowed the issues we should be discussing. If you're for Clinton, you're a Third Wayer; if you're for Warren, you're too far left to be taken seriously; if you're for Sanders, you're a lefty extremist. And on it goes.

Again, who benefits from Democrats being at each other's throats - especially in the lead-up to a presidential election? Who benefits from a "Democratic-supporting website" being so entrenched in vitriol, posters are leaving every day?

DU is rapidly becoming Discussionist. The TOS means nothing, rules that used to keep out disruptors are rarely enforced, juries hide posts based on who is part of their "group" and who isn't, and RW propaganda is spewed by trolls posing as "disappointed Dems".

It breaks my heart. DU was my virtual home for many, many years. I argued with fellow Dems here; I debated with them, I discussed important issues with them, I learned from them, I laughed with them, I cried with them. But there was never a question that we were all Democrats with common goals, and even the most heated arguments were about issues, and not about where a poster stood on the left-right spectrum of the Democratic Party.

Now it's just another generic political message board where anti-Dem rhetoric is applauded as "true progressive/liberal" idealism, and being part of one clique or another matters far more than anything else.

My OP wasn't about leftists, progressives, moderates, centrists. It wasn't about Hillary, or Warren, or Sanders. It was about DU and what it's become. My only consolation is that what I see on DU is no longer representative of the Democratic Party. The Big Tent still exists, and all who want to move the country towards true equality, liberty and a better life for all citizens are still welcomed with open arms.