The Salladay Imbroglio

Day-um, I was up until about 7:00am last night working, or I would have known that SusanG picked up the Robert Salladay story from yesterday.

No, my beef is with Salladay's denigration of the office itself for which these bloggers are running, an in-your-face putdown that begins with the headline, "Jobs for the Sickly," and speeds straight downhill from there:

"For both parties, the honor of delegate status normally attracts sallow depressives who enjoy debating meaningless bylaws more than, say, interacting with human beings."

Well, sheesh. There's nothing more inviting to an ordinary citizen than having a desire to get involved in local politics come with a ready-made diagnosis as a social misfit straight from the DSM-IV (and a "sallow" one, no less). What's next in this ongoing citizen participation series? Only unemployed losers with nothing better to do on Tuesdays bother to cast a vote?

Now I've been blogging for a while. I understand the temptation to succumb to a combination of cynicism, infatuation with one's own striking phrases and stabs at in-the-know bleak humor. Many times, I've given in. But never about people's dedication to becoming more active in the political process or their willingness to make a real sacrifice of personal time for a thankless and dry job such as our bloggers are competing to perform.

Perhaps that's just a symptom of my own naiveté; after all, although I was a professional working journalist for years, I admit up front I don't measure up to the extensive c.v. Mr. Salladay posts at the Los Angeles Times blog - longer than your average "Breaking!" diary here at Daily Kos. Indeed, his resume is so deep that it makes it clear that although he's mucking around in the bloggy swamp with the "little people," he's obviously far, far less little than the rest of us. Not that we're supposed to be cowed by this Voice of Authority, or anything. No, not us.

I think the funniest thing about this is how ignorant of history Salladay is. The only times we had vibrant, relevant political parties in this state are when the grassroots got involved in the mechanics of the party, particularly duirng the rise of Democratic Clubs in the 1950s, led by Allan Cranston and leading to the election of Pat Brown. This more than anything moved California, which has had a Democratic governor for only 20 of the last 100 years, on the path to being what is known today as a blue state.

Salladay earns his bread and butter by being smug and dismissive. But the potential of people-powered movements to effect change are really the ONLY movements that ever get anywhere. And those movements are all about interacting with human beings, almost to the exclusion of all else.

There's a myth that California is becoming "post-partisan" and it's evidenced by the rise in decline to state voters. I think that's not because the whole state has suddenly become wholly non-ideological, but because they all have the choice between two really crappy parties. A CDP that's relevant, that's effective, that reaches out to everyone, that lets people know they understand their concerns and will work in their favor, will actually attract plenty of voters. That's why I'm running.

Let's continue this movement, now three years in the making, comprised of netroots, grassroots, people from all walks of life coming together who want to see a party that works. Vote this weekend for me or the other great progressives who are running.

David "Sallow Progressive" Dayen
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1/13/07 at 10:00am
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