The Internet Illusion

There are times when I enjoy playing the curmudgeon.  (Heaven knows I'm getting old enough.)  So let me just say this upfront.

You can't change the world online.

In recent months, I've grown increasingly grumpy with well-intentioned people who seem to believe you can.  As I write this, I've just gotten another plea from the President's "grassroots" campaign - Organizing for Action - to sign its petition demanding that the Senate pass stronger background checks for weapons purchases.

I'll probably sign, but not before I finish this curmudgeonly grumble.  Because America's progressives and liberals need a serious reality check.

For the last few weeks, it seems like every third person on my newsfeed has posted some expression of outrage that the Senate ignored the wishes of 90% of Americans in order to satisfy a small minority opposed to background checks.

Note that word "wishes".  

Because there's a vast difference between the wishes of a majority and the will of the people.

Wishes are for greeting cards and animated kiddie flicks.  Will is about commitment, sacrifice, and hard work.  About having some skin in the game.

It's becoming increasingly easy to express our wishes through such ephemeral means as internet petitions.  And powerful interests will occasionally deign to grant a token victory to such wishes - reversing an ill-considered personnel decision or adjusting some obnoxious policy or rule.

Something that doesn't cost much.

But when real power, or serious money, is at stake, the people who run things will yield only to the aroused, stubborn, persistent force of the popular will.

And that's much harder to come by.

In the case of background checks, the opposition consists of a small minority of Americans - perhaps three to five million citizens.  But if those opponents make up only a small percentage of voters, they have the advantage of being focused, single-issue voters. 

Any incumbent who displays less than 100% loyalty to their definition of Second Amendment rights can be certain of facing their wrath.  They will vote, and raise money, and work assiduously to defeat that incumbent in the next election.

They might be a tiny minority, but they have will.

And our Senators understand that.

Imagine, for a moment, an equal number of well-organized citizens on the other side - absolutely dedicated to eliminating assault-style weapons, or banning large ammo clips, or imposing mandatory background checks.  Citizens willing to do whatever it took to defeat any Senator who refused to vote their way.

Then we'd have a fair fight.

But that's not America in the Age of Obama.  On a host of issues - gun control, environmental protection, marriage equality, reproductive rights, etc.  - genuine liberal/progressive activism is hard to find.

We've substituted virtual activism - and that's not the same thing.

In America, power comes from electoral majorities - not from polls, online petitions, or changing our profile pics. 

Power comes from winning elections - and not just Presidential elections.

It comes from winning congressional elections, legislative elections, even those seemingly trivial local elections in which future governors, senators and presidents get their start.

It comes from finding good people and turning them into candidates - for every seat.

And those candidates don't have to be Democrats.  Independents will often do just as well, or better.

Winning elections requires, above all, three raw materials:  money, manpower, and expertise.

Since Howard Dean's insurgency, in 2004, political campaigns have learned how to raise money online.  But to date, there's no internet substitute for manpower - the boots-on-the-ground, door-to-door, retail politics that wins elections.

America's liberal/progressive forces need an army of citizens willing to put in the hours, pound the pavement, and cope with snarling dogs and slammed doors.

Citizens who realize that changing America requires more than sitting in a coffee shop, sipping a latté, and double-clicking on an internet petition.

For therein lies the danger.  The ease, convenience, and potential anonymity of online petitions and other such expressions have deluded too many into believing they have actually taken action - when all they've done is make themselves feel better.

Real-world politics takes very little account of facile gestures.  It demands commitment - the choice to get into the arena.

The rich, the powerful, the bigoted, and the profligate will yield only to superior force in the form of millions of mobilized voters.  Wishes will not suffice.

And really, that's as it should be.  Whatever your specific cause - sane weapons laws, stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, legalizing same-sex marriage, or restoring a society where any child can aspire to rise as far as her abilities and efforts can take her - it should demand real sacrifice.

In historical terms, despite occasional presidential elections, America's liberal/progressive forces have been in retreat for the past four decades.  Only by educating ourselves, sharpening our arguments, mobilizing our forces, and doing the hard work - for any one issue - will we fit ourselves for the countless other battles which need to be fought.

It's about building character, and teamwork... 

And will.  Real change demands real commitment.  It demands an act of will.

We can build a future worthy of our past, and worthy of our promise.  But wishing won't make it so.