Which is kind of interesting. They polled their members to get this result,
> or so they say. They've also taken a more critical turn on health care. I'm
> not sure these were the first instincts of the leadership. This has
> potential.
>
I have a couple of friends on MoveOn's organizing staff who are actually pretty radical. While they may not reflect the staff as a whole, I think they're a bit closer than some of MoveOn's historic positions, or lack thereof, might lead the rest of us to believe. MoveOn's problem is that every "member" gets an equal vote on the organization's campaigns and policies, and the "membership" includes every yahoo in the country with an e-mail address. (Five million of them, actually, but you get the idea.)
There's a recurring tendency on the left to blame the dismaying actions of organizations, from online communications services to labor unions, on staff and leadership. This is almost always wrong. These organizations have constituencies, and those constituencies reflect the perspectives and prejudices of the country as a whole. They also have democratic processes, with the same pitfulls as those of nation-states. Leftist valorizations aside, "[t]he People is a Great Beast!" in organizing as well as governance.
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."