In Taking on the System; Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era Moulitsas’ dedication to Saul Alinsky, “The tactics may change, but the soul of the radical endures,” followed by two quotations sets the stage for Moulitsas’ new book: 

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” –Theodore Roosevelt

“Conflict is the essential core of a free and open society.” –Saul Alinsky

In 2006, I was drawn to read Moulitsas’ first book, Crashing the Gate (co-authored with Jerome Armstrong) after reading Aaron Barlow’s review of it. Barlow succinctly summarizes the authors’ argument, which I too found persuasive:

• Democrats almost always govern better than Republicans. The comparative track records are clear at all levels. So, Democrats, whatever the details of their individual beliefs, need to be supported over Republicans — if we are to have effective government. Issue allegiance must take second place.
• The old Democratic strategy of developing a coalition of interest groups only worked when the Democrats were a consistent majority in Congress and state legislatures and therefore could afford some splintering. Such a coalition is extremely fragile, easily broken apart by `litmus test' adherents to particular causes (the siphoning off of Democratic votes to Ralph Nader in 2000 is the best case in point). Major elections will continue to be lost if another organizing model is not developed; it's way too easy for opponents to fracture such coalitions.
• The Democratic Party, dominated by inside-the-beltway consultants, does not succeed today in part because it has difficulty recognizing that its decision-making process needs to stem from the grassroots, from the bottom up, not the top down (as has been the case for the last twenty years, at least). Out of touch with the electorate, the consultants do more harm than good.
• The Democratic Party has failed to protect its own future by neglecting to nurture up-coming young activists and overlooking the need to develop think tanks where strategies and plans can be devised and discussed. Instead, the Democratic Party focuses its financial rewards on those at the top, not the ones with the potential of coming to the top tomorrow with new ideas and enthusiasms. As a result, the party stagnates.

Whether (as is probable) Kerry lost the 2004 election because of vote suppression and theft, his lackluster campaign was still a disappointment, and Crashing the Gate was one of the best of the progressive books which drew lessons from the defeat in that dismal post-election period. Now, with all signs pointing to a Democratic landslide victory, Moulitsas discusses how he shaped his blog Daily Kos to contribute to the revitalization of the Democratic party and that currently anticipated victory.

Although he includes bits of his own biography and an account of the early days of DKos, this book is essentially a handbook for progressives.

His first principle, which he calls a “foundational rule of rule of this book,” (15) is:

Without the media, little can be accomplished. If you cannot influence the flowof information, you cannot effect change on any substantial scale.

In his opinion, unlike the situation in the ‘sixties and early ‘seventies, mass demonstrations will not be effective because the media and the broader public have become “desensitized … to the street spectacle” (22 ); therefore, what is needed today is to “Reinvent the Street Protest.” (117)

 To many observers, if politics isn’t in the streets, it’s not happening. This misconception is a leftover from the 1960’s, when protesters were making the most of their new visual medium, television. Today’s new tools allow an exciting hybrid of technological and digital advocacy matched with real-life demonstrations, and much of the most effective current organizing is taking placeunder the radar before it goes public and visible.

The impressive success of the Obama campaign’s online fund-raising shows how progressives can have a direct influence on the direction of campaigns, not only on the national level, but in key local elections. Jim Webb’s upset victory in the 2006 Senate campaign was a case in point. Moulitsas (on DKos) joined with Virginian Lowell Field (using the blog Raising Kaine) to organize an effective grass roots campaign to draft Webb and then to support his candidacy—with a great unintentional assist from Webb’s opponent George Allen himself. (52) The YouTube video of Allen’s infamous “macaca” slur, directed against a Webb campaign worker of Indian descent, was s amplified by the progressive blogosphere and then picked up by the media. (84)

One of the realities of this period is a profound unease in progressive ranks about how an Obama/Biden administration will take shape, fed by the sometimes disappointing failure of congressional Democrats to stand up against Bush on issues such as funding for the Iraq war or illegal government wiretapping of private citizens. Without taking on these issues in his book, Moulitsas addresses the tendency for a radical backlash in progressive circles when their own side fails to take on certain battles or doesn’t fight to a decisive conclusion. I find what he has to say on this to be profoundly true and particularly worth bearing in mind as we face the potentially stormy first hundred days of an Obama administration that will be facing a horrendous economic crisis while (hopefully) seeking to fulfill its campaign promises.

Moulitsas writes: (214)

Effecting lasting change in society is a daunting undertaking, with frustrations and hurdles every step of the way. It’s not a task for those with short attention spans, or those without the fortitude of the long haul.

…snip…

Some battles are worth fighting to force rapid change, and choice and civil rights certainly qualify, but the fact remains that the most desirable pathway to change is slow stead, and incremental, a process that can bring whole societies along.

…snip…

It is evolution, rather than revolution.

This is a very good book, written at just the right time. I hope that my review will encourage many people to pick it up and read it, just as Barlow’s review of Crashing the Gate did for me.

Taking on the System; Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era
© 2008 Markos Moulitsas Zúniga. Inc.
Celebra, Penguin Group, 375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014

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About the Reviewer: Carol White is Book Review Editor for ePluribus Media. She has edited a small science journal and is presently a free-lance writer, who covers the arts and related matters for her local newspaper.

ePluribus Media Contributors: cho, Bronxdem, Chris White

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