To Mr. Salladay

Since you're a reader, obviously, I'll address you by name. I saw your update today, and I thought I'd address it.

You write:

The Sacramento Bee has more on the progressive political bloggers seeking to infiltrate the California Democratic Party through elections today. "The state party is largely composed of old buddies who get together to socialize every once in a while, with most meetings being poorly attended and little business getting done in them," says one 18-year-old high school student who is running. That's the point this blog made Thursday, but a few earnest types totally freaked out! Also: I'm a blogger too, so I can make light-hearted fun of bloggers. It's in the rules.

First, I wouldn't characterize it as "seeking to infiltrate." It's seeking to participate, and what irked everyone about your initial statement is the dismissiveness of anyone who would deign to involve themselves in participatory democracy. The point you made Thursday is that it's pointless to participate, that it won't change anything. Also: I'm a blogger too, and not paid to be one, so I can make fun of your making fun of me. And do it better.

Then there's this:

UPDATE: Dan Ancona says the Democratic party is getting energized: "The almost entirely unchecked power of special interests, the noise of capitalist society, and snarky disaffected despair like Mr Salladay all work against them. But large and growing numbers of people are making the choice to rebuild the American democracy anyway."

I happily come from a leftist-hippy family (see photo of my wood-fired hot tub - it's semi-liberal), so I know from where progressives are speaking. But I am struck by how progressives feel the California Democratic Party establishment doesn't represent their views. Universal health care? State Democrats did it. Same-sex marriage? Done. Raise the minimum wage? Multiple times. Global warming? Toughest standards in the nation. Challenge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and protect unions? They destroyed Schwarzenegger in 2005. For the most part, the problem has been Schwarzenegger's vetoes, not Art Torres.

Take a look at my campaign speech:

"My name is David Dayen. I am a proud progressive. I come from the grassroots, and I'm a blogger, so i come from the netroots. The reason I am running is that I think we have a tremendous opportunity in California. The Republican brand is shot, they can't get elected unless they act like Democrats for six months. But we're not going to get anywhere without a strong and vibrant party of our own. As your delegate, I will work to make the CDP more responsive to the grassroots and to the concerns of everyday Californians, more effective, by reaching out to every Assembly District, to every county, and more relevant, not just for 2 weeks every two years, but every day, every week, telling voters who we are and what we stand for. That's why I'm here, that's why I'm asking for your vote, because I want everyone in this state to be as excited about participating in their democracy as everyone in this room is. Thank you."

I ask you, do you see anything about ideology in there? About issues? I don't think the CDP is effective enough. If they were, they wouldn't have had so few pickups the last several years. They wouldn't be in a state with Republican governors 13 of the past 18 years (actually something like 80 of the past 100 years). They wouldn't have been one of the only states in the country where Democratic party ID didn't rise in the 2006 elections.

Furthermore, you don't address the major issue that upset progressives in 2006: the CDP's refusal to endorse the Clean Money initiative, Prop. 89. Because Angelides supported it they took no stance, but they were VERY ready to betray practically every grassroots Democratic group in the state by not endorsing it. This is an important point. The amount of money in our democracy is nothing short of corrosive. The leaders in Sacramento take lots of that money. And they weren't about to suspend that pay-to-play system, which would be the greatest thing we could do to reclaim democracy from special interests in this state. The fact that you don't address that, or don't know it, shows that you're fairly clueless about the concerns of progressives here.

And another thing: this is not just about bloggers. It's about working together with the grassroots. Nobody on my slate except for me is a blogger. My colleagues have spent decades and decades in the grassroots, in Democratic clubs, in activist organizations of every stripe. We are going to work as hard as we can to give this state a Democratic Party that means something, that is true to its principles, and that reaches out to everybody, in every district, in every county.

Are those the thoughts of a sallow depressive? I don't think so.

(Also, the unions challenged Schwarzenegger and protected unions, they did it with millions of dollars and millions of hours of hard work)

PS It's also funny that, by Salladay's logic, I'm not supposed to "expect a leftward shift from the party" but at the same time, the party supports leftward causes and is pretty progressive. I guess he'll argue every side of an issue, as long as he can seem right, ay?