....Other than a few observations from reporters about how geeky or how old the participants were, nobody so far has seemed much interested in why people from all over the country, people who are not bloggers and who don't have a profile, spent their hard earned money to come and meet others who participate in this thing of ours. And I think that's the interesting story. Indeed, it's the most important story. People are getting involved. They are personally putting their energy and their time and their money into politics on both the grassroots and the national level because of big communities like Kos, Atrios and FDL and smaller political spaces where the ideas and the dialog get refined. The political conversation is changing.
These same people (you) are taking those questions and comments to water coolers and dinner tables all over the country and passing them along to the real world. And you are going out and making change based upon what we've learned and how we see politics. This is how movements are made.
The dinner table concept is a huge one. Why? Because kids eat at the dinner table. My political values were framed by my parents and my son's were framed by mine -- almost always at dinner, the one time every day we sat down together. Ultimately, children grow up and forge their own identities, but at least for myself (and my sister) and my son, strong Democratic values and sticking up for the underdog are the core of the foundation.
As more and more readers and commenters come to blogs, what they take away they will share. As CSN&Y sang a generation ago, "Teach your children well."
As for creating a movement, there's still no one who expresses it better than Arlo Guthrie. To paraphrase:
You know, if one person does it, they may think he's really sick...
if two people do it, in harmony, it's no big deal.
if three people do it, they may think it's an organization.
And can you imagine fifty people a day, ....friends they may thinks it's a movement.
What Yearly Kos proved is that blogs and the netroots indeed are a movement -- and a powerful one as we spread the message both offline as well as online. Like Digby says, we should all take a bow. And then keep on typing on.
