The Perjury of Dissent

If you follow the current pattern of dissent you’ll see a tinge of red muddying the carpet of right and wrong. Activists will explain to you that the Bush administration has lied and is acting criminally. Very few will admit that the greatest threat to the Democratic Party is the Democratic Party. It has been labeled the party with no ideas because no one in the leadership can agree on a strategy. This is common knowledge, but where to begin?
First, you cannot govern by arguing who gets face time on television. You cannot govern while there are more divisions in the party than one. You will never overcome the disability of chaos unless the rule of chaos actually achieves its intent and several random acts actually converge and act as one. Finally, you cannot hope to achieve the office of the presidency without a dynamic candidate.
An extreme deterrent in the success of the Democratic Party is the lack of action in the voters, the so-called true believers. One strong believer can achieve quite a bit but one who recruits many to do as he or she does wins an election. Howard Dean mobilized the Internet and made history with a digital grassroots movement never seen before. His campaign had incredible momentum until a sound byte sent his campaign spiraling, but that isn’t the whole truth. His campaign fell apart because his campaign allowed it to. If Howard Dean would have appeared on television, on every major network and said, “I am not ashamed of that scream. In fact I plan on screaming all across this country until Election Day” the situation might have been different. The fault? Allowing the media to tell you that your message doesn’t matter, what matters is one scream.

- Chris Mansel