The Blogosphere Could Be in for a Change
By Alan Stewart Carl | Related entries in Blogging, General PoliticsThe blogosphere has never existed in a time of divided government. In this on-line world’s short history, the Republicans have always controlled Congress and the Presidency. Now things will be different. And how will the blogosphere react?
I’m sure partisanship will be just as strident as ever, but some attitudes will naturally change. Let’s start on the left. The impotent anger so often seen in many blogs now has an outlet. Their party has real power and the bloggers can no longer just criticize. They will have to defend important decisions Democrats make. They will have to explain why certain objectives cannot be reached and why some goals are not important enough for the Democrats to even try to achieve. The answer can no longer be that it’s all the Republican’s fault. Their side will have responsibility for failure too.
Some left bloggers will no doubt take to the changed landscape well. I actually expect Daily Kos to surprise us and become a more sophisticated site. The site leaders learned a lot about politics this last election cycle and they are heavily invested in the Democrats, so I can see the site shifting away from the “Bush lied!� mode of communication and becoming more politically and culturally mainstream.
Other sites will likely be unable to adjust or will simply ignore the Democrats’ success, choosing to continue blaming Bush for every ill. Others I expect will show their true colors, revealing themselves to be not just anti-Republican sites but true radicals who will not be appeased by the Democratic agenda.
All said, I expect the left blogosphere to divide between Democrat partisan sites, true far-left sites and sites where people want to do little more than scream.
On the right, this election should end much of the dripping superiority so often evident in conservative blogs. The Democrats proved they aren’t irrelevant and the right can no longer pretend it has possession of all true and good American ideals. Well, they can still pretend and I imagine a few will, acting like this Democratic Congress is just a bizarre little hiccup in the inevitable 1000-year reign of the right.
However, many other sites will splinter apart as each tries to push the Republican party in their preferred direction�whether that be neocon, theocon, pro-business, anti-immigration or what have you. For the most part, the rightwing blogs have been unified in their defense of the Republican Party. Now, while I still expect partisanship, I also expect more independence. Six years of Republican dominance has suppressed a lot of dissent within the party. Much more of that dissent will now be heard.
As for the center? Well, there aren’t many of us and most of us are small fish. Divided government should suit us well. As long as we don’t start thinking the center is more important or powerful than it really is, we should be fine and, hopefully, more relevant.
I really don’t expect sweeping change in the blogosphere. Nor do I expect immediate change. But I do think this on-line world of ours will be a more diverse and sophisticated place – at least until the 2008 election sends everyone scurrying back to their tribe.
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November 10th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
I’ve noticed a change already. The right is working its’ way through the 5 stages of grief (most seem stuck in stage #2, “Angerâ€Â?), while the left is deluding themselves into thinking that a couple of razor thing senate races, constitute a mandate for a hard left turn. Kind of reminds me of all the republican chest thumping that occurred after bush barely won re-election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Stages_of_Grief
November 10th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
One distinction I comment on frequently is between policy and process.
Almost ANY policy compromise that seems reasonable to me is regarded and stupid and extreme by someone.
But there may be a delightful surge in trans-partisan interest and alignment in the area of reforming the process of government: Redistricting, open primaries, change the election to a Saturday, reduce personal attacks, more transparency in congress, lobbying and fundraising, …
Sometimes redefining the question and issue liberates creativity and cooperation.
November 10th, 2006 at 3:26 pm
I think Rush Limbaugh did a fairly good job of describing the feeling of liberation.
Look, conservatives are a rationale breed with a rationale fear of government. We do our best playing defense against the government, playing defense against social progressivism, playing defense against socialist tendencies and militarily playing defense. We are here to stop people who think they are really, really smart from jacking everything up. When we apply our creative, ingenuity and hardwork it is in the private sector and a thousand times more productive than government.
It is liberating to back on defense and ultimately the true conservative agenda is achieved not through the implimentation of so-called conservative policies, but through the prudence-driven blockage of all government programs. Let the liberals do what they are good at — stealing money from private interests to redistributing it to welfare queens and protecting abortionists and let the conservatives do what we are good at — keep the government from stealing our money and protection unborn children. This is the natural state of things and it is good.
November 10th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
Wow, its a blog post about what other blogs will eventually post with comments making broad generalizations that reflect the narrow thinking of people posting to the blogs. *Head Explodes*
For those of us who were outside the blessed “Republican Revolution” it would be handy if the blog posts were flagged for what definition of “conservatives” a poster is talking about. From my observations there are three types of “conservatives”:
- Neo-Conservatives (aka what “conservatives” have acted like in the last few years) advocating bat shit crazy foreign policy and a total lack of fiscal restraint. The stronger the enemies appear the stronger the power they have. Or had.
- The American Taliban Conservatives – A species whose goal seems to be to gain and hold power by forcing a specific interpretation of a “Christian” values onto others. Goals include defining when life starts and ends, who or what should live or die, and would probably support putting cameras on your bedroom to make sure you don’t perform certain consensual acts with your married spouse if given the chance. Also appears to be fond of meth smoking apparently… which might explain why they have chosen to ignore large parts of the Bible that conflict with their view points and do not concern themselves with things like fiscal restraint.
- Paleo-Conservatives – A long dead species that advocated fiscal restraint, libertarian view points on government and the rights of individuals, and advocated at least plausible foreign policy. This species went extinct during the Republican revolution due to being unable to share an ecosystem with the previously mention aggressive species. Genetic code from this species seems to have contaminated the Democratic party though. Time will tell if this genetic code either acts like a cancer causing it to be purged from the body at a future date or if it will become important for the survival of the Democratic species.
So which one are we talking about here?
November 10th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Dos:
Among the issues where conservatives “played defense” just during my lifetime:
Civil rights
Voting rights
Equal rights for women
Clean air an water legislation
Endangered species protection
Handicapped access
Car safety legislation
Access to birth control
Abortion
Gay rights
What’s interesting about the list is that with the exception of the last two, conservatives now accept them.
The one thing we can always count on with conservatives is that they will fight everything, always dripping scorn, and end up defending what they once attacked while never admitting error.
November 10th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
@Bruce
The Paleo-Conservatives aren’t extinct. They have just adopted several different survival strategies to ensure the prorogation of their species.
Strategy #1: Say things that ensure minimal air time on the major networks. Thereby giving the appearance of being extinct.
Stategy #2: They became practitioners of Therianthropy. Transforming into another animal form to hide their true nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therianthropy_%28mythology%29
Strategy #3: They retreated for human civilization, living in remote forested wilderness areas of the United States and of Canada, specifically those in south western Canada, the Great Lakes, the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the forests of the U.S. Northeast, and the U.S. Southern states. Notice that the first accounts of Bigfoot started appearing right after Goldwater lost the 1964 Presidential election.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_goldwater
November 10th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Oops! That should have been “propagation� not “prorogation�.
November 10th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
And one prediction you forgot to metion, people will still divide into parties and stick with them whatever the cost. People will still attack each other with sweeping generalization that only actually apply to a vocal minority.
The king is dead, long live the king.
November 10th, 2006 at 4:46 pm
Paleocons are usually very isolationist — not exactly a reasonable foreign policy. When I think Paleocon, I think Pat Buchanan and his gloom and doom ilk who think if anything at all ever changes (unless they themselves want it to change), we’re all ruined.
Anyway, I think it’s amazing that hardly a year ago a lot of us were sitting around saying “what does being a Democrat even mean anymore” and now a lot of people are realizing they don’t really know what a conservative/Republican is either. A two-party system will do that to you. Makes it really hard to label.
November 10th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Mr. Takhallus; Great answer, but add global warming to the list. Whether you believe it or not, we’ll all be dead b4 they can prove it–I hope.
Mr. Peros; You were doin fine talkin how conservatves use bein defensive to protect against social change or ‘progressiveness’. This has always been your talent, it defines what a conservative is. We don’t deny you its importance, to balance things out, control the liberal sins, avoid chaos & anarchy, etc.
We may even give you the argument that stealing our money for social programs or redistributing it to “welfare queens” is bad for many reasons; teach them how to fish instead…we get that.
It may actually be better for me to “let them steal my money” to give to large defense contractors to reap huge winfall profits without any oversight or competition, thus lumping gross sums of mega wealth to the company’s CEO’s and their buddies. At least this way I buy some sense of security as I watch them use “shock and awe” on our enemies. Lord knows, the welfare mom’s just gonna use it for drugs.
I feel so much better now that I’ve had that cleared up–its all about being defensive, cool.
November 11th, 2006 at 9:52 am
What people tend to forget thanks to those who flunked out of clown college to become a talking head on news and radio is, Yes, Susie, there is a such a thing as conservative democrats, they are rather recluse, and haven’t spoken up in quite some time, I think thats changing.
They are much different than conservative republicans in certian aspects, but do believe in certian principals of the republican party. Just as there are liberal republcans.
Then there are those that don’t think for themself and follow the herd, and I vew them as neither democrat/republican/green etc, they just float though life and take opinion as true, and that is what we have seen over the past few years. These people fail to think for themself, clueless on the issues, and respond to phrases like “tax cut”, “god”, “abortion”, “stemcell”, and a plethora of other heartstring catch phrases, long story short. I believe is what we have been over exposed to.
The threat we face IN DC is not democrat nor republican, it’s the diebolds, Halliburtons, and Lobbiest for profit orginizations.
What I would like to see our the voters do is buy these for profit lobbiest one way tickets out of DC, place term limits on our court system, house and senate. Then curtail this national slander based “tabloid” opinion based news media in whatever legal way necessary.
Republicans and Democrats can and have worked together in the past.
They will continue to do so with oppostion and debate but thats is how the system works, everyone deserves to be heard.
November 26th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
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