Subcomandante Kos:

The Lieberman defeat has electrified activists nationwide, showing them that the most powerful, entrenched establishment figures are not safe from people-power. Tuesday wasn't a morale boost, it was proof that we could accomplish the politically impossible.

Although I rarely wade into the commentary section on the old DailyKos anymore, and I find myself often skimming the front page for headlines, the man himself still has a good visionary sense for things, a sharp and refreshing take on a lot of issues, and can really turn a phrase to boot.

I think he's right on here: the Lamont campaign is proof that the concept which Dean rode out of the gate -- internally challenging the establishment in an effort to pull it around -- can in fact succeed. This is a slow and lengthy process, fraught with setbacks and disappointment, but it's not a waste of energy in my opinion.

Simply put, there is no conceivable social action that can rival the political process in terms of return on our investment of time and money. A presidential election costs $200M and 100s of 1,000s of volunteer hours. That's a lot of cash and effort, but at the same time, when you win, you're directing a budget that's about two thousand times as large. There are strings attached all along the way, but there's nothing like the State to take an idea to scale.

Credit for this concept really goes to my man Frank, who as far as I'm concerned coined the phrase: Investment Activism.

For those who are already engaged in their community though some existing apolitical service organization (e.g. clean the river, feed the hungry, teach the children) it's important to realize that:

1. Political participation and direct-action community service are highly compatible. How you engage is not a zero-sum decision.
2. If you truly care about your social-service objective, you're going to have to engage in the political process sooner or later. You can clean the river all you want, but picking up litter won't stop the timber mill from dumping sulfuric acid in the water.
3. While a lot of the media narrative is national, the real action is at the community level. Organizing to improve your city council achieves a double impact both in that local government has a lot to do with your daily way of life, and because authentic local organizations are critical to winning national elections.

So there's no reason not to get hot and start juicing your scene. The actual number of committed participants that are needed to change the balance of power in this country is surprisingly small. With the right message, a little savvy, and some hard work and perseverance, we can run this shit.

Agenda Time

Having proof positive that local networks can defeat established institutions, the question really becomes "what will we do with this newfound power?"

Some back of the envelope political math tells us there's majority support already for the following Good Ideas™:

• Getting Out of Iraq (60%)
• Establishing National Health Care (62%)
• Breaking Our Dependence on Foreign Oil (92%!!!)
• Raising The Minimum Wage (83%)
• Checking Corporate Abuse and Greed (70%)

All of these ideas will make life better in the world. They also all have broad support. The only real opposition comes from fringe political groups and the fattest of corporate fatbacks. These issues fit together as a messaging piece pretty well, and as philosophy and policy too. It's a consensus in the wings, and the best the other team can do is call us "hippies," which won't work. If we fight, we win.

Unlike any of this insider-DC "Unity" daydreaming (McCain/Lieberman? What?!?) this kind of agenda is good governance and has broad public support. Imagine that: giving the people what they want, and having it work out. "Democracy, eh?"

The only thing that's really preventing this kind of agenda from being implemented is a lack of political will from the institutional leadership.

But that's now a solvable problem.

It's time to stop waiting for our feckless national political leaders to ride in like the calvary. They won't. But if momentum can build on these fronts, politicians who know what's good for them will get in front of the wave. Those who stand in the way are now proven to be replaceable.

Cocksuckers at Greyhound were sold out, but my peeps over at the Union Square Alamo car rental spot hooked me up with a one-way run, so I got back home last night with Luke and Julia. I'm realizing I'm close to broke; been letting invoices slide.

I'm going to def launch into a redesign of this site soon. Stay tuned for that.

Ok... off to the Oakland greyhound terminal, one of the finest human-watching opportunities you can get.

Lucas and Julia are up in Westhaven now. The Peach is safely back in Nueva Jorka. I've got a lot of catching up to do on work. Seems like projects are coming out of the woodwork, people wanting to know what my plans are for the fall, for next year, forever...

A little bird told me that DC dems are going to throw another 8-figure sum down the toilet to try and make a national voterfile. Stop trying to be the borg, dudes. It's not who you are. Embrace decentralization and win!

Ok; really time to go now.

Interesting. I stayed last night in the E-bay at the Landeman's house of Sociology -- three grads; one apartment; more bookshelves than you can shake a stick at -- and this morning while we're getting coffee he asks me what's been going on in politics.

And so I summarize:

• Polling suggests that the Democrats may take a slim majority in the House and/or (slimmer possibility) the Senate this fall, making Bush a lame duck, which would be good in and of itself.
• However, they're not going to really be able to do anything, so the energy crunch and housing-market slump (pretty much unavoidable) may get blamed on them.
• On the other hand: free health care may be in the offing.
• Today's primary in Connecticut should be interesting.

We didn't get into the international stuff, which doesn't really look too good either. Neo-conservatism seems broken, but I don't count out their ability to shoehorn us deeper into a middle-eastern war when we should be disengaging from the region militarily. We won't get a refferendum on new foreign policy vision until '08 anyway, but I'm pessimistic about how much of a check a Democratic House will put on Bush. Theoretically they can just cut off the money, but I don't think they want to play that kind of hardball. Don't seem to really care enough. Alternate visions are also sadly lacking in the leadership caste.

LO-fuckin-L

Be sure to scroll down to the diagram.

John Robb, who I link to farily often, gives me'n'Zack the nod for the LC.

Speaking of which, I've gotten a couple of new donations. Need to update that progress bar (it's done by hand, natch). Also, need to push for donors before the Fundable runs out.

Oh. My. God.

"Larrupin'" is a piece of American slang (new to me) that means "tasty good." It's also a restaurant about five miles north of Westhaven. It is teh awesome. Went there last night for a little datey dinner and had one of the best meals of my life.

Food is one of the few things that I don't feel any compunction against spending big money on. I'm a relative cheapskate on most other counts, and I sort of have a reflexive aversion to "luxury" items. I hate shopping. But good food and good drink is always a go for me.

And to round out the evening we saw A Scanner Darkly, the new rotoscope movie by Richard Linkleter. It's allright. I enjoyed the first half of the film -- with Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey Jr. and Keanu being all paranoid and strung out -- more than the latter half. Keanu's too bland to really carry the rest, and while I really find the rotoscoping thing interesting, and hope it gets used more in future features, there were some choices made that I think were not so smart. It's entertaining and funny at points; definitely worth a rental when that time comes.

I'm not sure if this is coordinated or not (e.g. whether Bob Greenwald is going to do some kind of Colbert-related film or something), but it's remix fun, and I like that Eli is putting himself out there:

Great weekend coming up. Tommy, Chelsea and Greg are down for a visit from PDX, and Laurel's pug pup Frankie (video coming) is boarding with us/Hanna&Sarah for a bit, and I'm shacking up with The Peach to boot. Fun around the campfire, in the house. We're gonna hit up the Crabbies tonight too.

Also:

http://www.ihumpedyourhummer.com

Tesla Motors

This is real smart: starting at the top-end of the value chain. I think these people's biggest problem will be mechanical support. Like, one of my biggest concerns is who can I take this thing to if it breaks down?