Is It Time To Unite Yet?

[rucky]

After umpteen debates, and a million billion candidate posts, DUers by now are pretty sure where the candidates stand - and where we stand with the candidates. Our straw polls don't change much. We've done our homework and we know the pros & cons of each and every candidate. Now let's respect each other's decisions.

We all say ABB, but in the meantime, we are still googling and digging up all the dirt we can. Sometimes the motives are good - like being an informed voter, and pointing out potential weakensses in each candidate. Sometimes there is a genuine hatred motivating some of the attacks. This baffles me. Is that a fight worth winning?

Regardless of the reasons, the time for negativity is OVER. It has served a purpose, but now it's time to start creating positive momentum for the flailing Democratic party. Not after the next debate, not after the primary, but now!

The spotlight is on: The last two debates were on CNN and FOX. The tickers on the 24-hour news channels are running candidate stories. The media - and the average Democratic voters - are starting to look at the candidates. Ads are running. RWTV attacks are becoming more focused and frequent. Every one of these attacks reflect on the Democratic pary as a whole.

The campaign is in full swing, and in the end we will choose a Democrat to represent us and defeat Bush next year. The person you dislike may become the nominee. Think ahead to that possible moment. What will you be saying? What you say now will echo through to that time.

We should all be working hard to support our candidates. Tout the all the great things they say and do. We must focus on the positive now There will continue to be plenty of negatives in the spotlight without our help. Let's turn them around instead of feeding upon them.

Every negative reflects on the Democratc Party as a whole. Ideological splits. Infighting. It's normal for DUers to address these things honestly amongst ourselves, express our frustration, and join in. But the view from the outside must be pathetic. We're asking voters to climb on board our ship, let's quit poking holes in it.

Even here in DU, we must worry about how the party looks to the average apolitical voter who's just now getting into this. But more important - as Tony Robbins as it sounds - is maintaing a positive, winning attitude for ourselves. At this point, we know the negatives. They haunt us every day and are reinforced at every turn. There are people working 24/7 on the negatives in order to bring us down, and we shouldn't let that affect us. Nor should we be helping them along.

We need to be working 24/7 to bring our 9 candidates into a positive light, get the party back on track, and defeat GW. Ultimately, DU can be the place to go to give us the energy we desperately need when we go out there and fight the real enemy. It's time to expand our energies outside the DU community and into our own communities. But we have to create that energy first.

It will mean setting aside our differences, stifling the contagion of bitterness and cynicism within our party, brushing aside our feelings of hoplessness, and - inside our little family - supporting each other when we do feel that way.

[tom_paine]

1. It is ALWAYS time to unite or we will suffer the same fate as

the German Social Democrats of 1933.

And once the Busheviks have reduced opposition to rubble and packed the Imperial Senate with cronies...

...anything goes.

Either we all hang together or surely we will all hang seperately.