Dean Barnett at The Weekly Standard looks at the netroots movement of the left and talks about the lack of one on the right:
Some people on the right fear that the left as developed an insurmountable advantage in harnessing the power of the Internet. While the Daily Kos, YearlyKos, and other bastions of online liberalism have clearly become power players, conservative have no comparable entities. The right-wing blogosphere doesn’t hold conventions, doesn’t win the attention of candidates, and more important, doesn’t move voters the way the progressive blogosphere does. The progressive blogosphere is a hotbed of activism; the most prominent outposts of the right-wing blogosphere stick to punditry.
But is this in fact a problem for the Republican party and conservatism generally?
No, it really isn’t.
While the right may be lacking in movements comparable to MoveOn or DailyKos, those movements, as Barnett points out, are lacking any real political philosophy. DailyKos and MyDD practice the politics of “winnerism” and that approach, win with any candidate at any cost, is not a solid foundation upon which to build much of anything. A short term solution for immediate gain benefits no one in the long run.
What the right contains are big picture thinkers. Pundits and people who are able to look at the core and roots of an issue and dissect it, base their own beliefs on it, and apply it for others to digest. It is a slow burn approach to politics that allows real discussion, real thought, and real change.
It’s a battle of reason versus emotion. The left has been fueled by emotion for years, a distaste and distrust of anything coming from the right. They have based their movement on what they are not. They are not Republican. They are not George W. Bush.
So what are they?
The power players on the right side, the Glenn Reynolds and Scott Johnsons, the pundit bloggers that make up the “fathers” of the right side of netroots activism, they aim for minds. They aim to make their readers think. Readers on both sides of the aisle. They aim to create conversations and discussions. This is how real movements are formed. This is the solid foundation to create something that effect lasting change.
The right isn’t playing catch-up, it’s playing for keeps.