I don't think that Chris went overboard at all.  And I certainly won't be leaving.  This is about political discussion, so let's go.  We have lots to learn.

Are we in power?  No.

Well, I'm one that did recommend the labor diaries (among others), but you got me all wrong!  It had nothing to do with guilt, but with the history I found interesting, and the thought that the issue should be discussed, and perhaps we could learn from what has happened in the past to another group trying to change things.

Recommending a diary doesn't necessarily mean agreement with it or guilt, IMHO.

Chris, you are pointing out something that is very important IMHO.  Politics has been framed as being too difficult for the average person; politicians are remote from the people they serve.

You and the netroots will change this so the "people-powered politics" we really need can emerge.

fyi, panel live on cspan now discussing this

http://c-span.org/watch/cspan_rm.asp?Cat =TV&Code=CS

Has anyone created a database of volunteers/resources that we could use?

Are we really seeing a lot of what you describe?  How many people even take the time to vote, let alone have a house party or go to one?

I was actually thinking of writing along these lines ("Are you a good citizen?") as well, since it  is a perpetual-seeming problem, and Chris makes a great point that people have to get involved to solve the problems since no one else is going to solve them for us.

Is it just laziness?

So many forces would be expected to be at work, that pointing to just one is difficult.  Personally, I believe the laziness is built into the structure of our corporate-sponsored society, and that alienation from the political process would be a natural outcome :)

Bob Dole yesterday (just saw on cspan3 10 minutes ago):

Q:  Do you give to charities?

A:  I give some to the Negro College Fund, for those students with disabilities...

Oh, so you have to be black and disabled?  I'm sure that's not what he meant, but telling.

I just finished the VRWC chapter in Crashing the Gate.  Not only do we need the databases, we need the entire organization in place to take full advantage of it.  Too bad they couldn't find some really talented database guys that could do this a lot cheaper and better...

Absolutely.   And I would add, that in the original post, Chris could have added some positive things that we can do.

Instead of saying "don't follow the republican talking points", say "if you see your fellow bloggers using republican talking points, please correct them immediately so that we can progress as a party and win."

Or something like that.  Otherwise, good post.

I just can't imagine why our government would want to keep us constantly at war and afraid, unable to speak out without possibly being labeled 'traitor', with our companies making so much profit by focusing our resources at destruction.

I just can't imagine why.  Anyone have a clue?

I would have loved to see someone stand up and call Hatch on it at the meeting!  Something like that could be a turning point for the public taking back control.