Imagining the netroots

Chris Bowers at MyDD takes a look at the stereotypes concerning political bloggers and takes them apart one at a time, from youth to rabidity. Much of the dismissal can be boiled down to one simple metaphor:

In the Joe Klein / Mike McCurry narrative, the netroots are teenagers, while career political professional are adults.

Such analysis dismisses a growing and active group of political activists, and also overlooks the importance of the consensus that they are building on a number of issues (and which differs from the Insider take on many of those same issues) and which is starting to bubble over into the mainstream pond. Georgia10 offers some additional thoughts on this matter, especially on the notion that new tactics or different priorities automatically stem from ignorance of the real political process.

The reality, of course, is that we do understand how D.C. works--we just refuse to accept the status quo. It is precisely because we know how D.C. works that we call for change. It is not naïveté that compels us to demand that the gloves be taken off; rather, such calls for courage stem from a rational realization that the current system is broken.

If the Democratic aristocracy continues to treat all newcomers as upstarts who need disciplining, rather than as sources of new ideas and input from different parts of their constituency, they're going to bring an intra-party war down on their heads, and we are much better off going after the real crazies over on the right, there. The big Insider ideas haven't provided many victories in the last decade on that front, so I can't see why they're something to hold over the heads of anybody with a different plan.