The Fuck?

From the In These Times article on progressive blogs:

(hat tip to Amanda, who has a quote)

Stoller does not think that it’s important for blogs to reach a less-affluent audience: “Not everybody has to be part of that conversation. If someone wants to have access to those discussions, they should be able to do that. But for the most part, people—like that person working two shifts—will go on with their lives knowing that good people are making good decisions and policies on their behalf.”

Um, ok.

And the colonists were just ever so happy knowing that the "good" aristocrats were "making good decisions and policies on their behalf."

Listen people, democracy is about more than just voting.

It's one thing to resign yourself to the fact that life isn't fair, and equality is simply something we all strive for - or admit that some people are more interested in politics than others. It's quite another to be unconcerned that "that person working two shifts" is not part of the conversation.

Does Stoller even understand the point of representative democracy, or does he think it's all just good and dandy as long as everyone has the right to vote? If this is the face of progressive politics in America, no wonder we're losing.

And, of course, I just loved this:

The Washington Monthly profile of Moulitsas included a revealing quote, in which he expressed disappointment at not being able to fulfill his dream of making it big in the tech industry back in 1998: “Maybe at some time, Silicon Valley really was this democratic ideal where the guy with the best idea made a billion dollars, but by the time I got there at least, it was just like anything else—a bunch of rich kids who knew each other running around and it all depended on who you knew.”

Yes, I want the person "leading" the grassnets to be the kind of person that not only buys into the American Dream as personified by Bill Gates, but who thinks that has shit to do with democracy rather than meritocracy. No wonder he's such an ass.