Big blogs you should read — and a challenge

There are some truly progressive blogs out there that do stellar work, blogs I think every progressive should read.

I'd also like to challenge these bloggers to step up to a leadership role. It's important to generate strong progressive content, but content alone is not enough. We have to build a community, and you can't be a leader of a community by holding yourself apart and aloof from the ordinary people in that community.

In the spirit of Blogroll Amnesty Day I'd like to challenge these Bloggers at the very least open up their blogrolls to smaller progressive bloggers. At best I challenge them to actually read some of these smaller blogs, and actually link to content they find interesting and edifying.

We can't just tell the truth. We can't just demand common sense and ordinary human decency from our politicians, business leaders and journalists. We have to build a community, a movement of people who will stand up and shout that "we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more". And stand up and shout over and over again; in extremis to make the nation ungovernable if our rights are not protected by our institutions.

And to do that, when the ordinary people do stand up and shout, the most respected bloggers among us have to answer. they have to say, "I hear you! Right on! Keep it up."

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of Americans have participated in protests against the Iraq war. These protests have been ignored, dismissed, minimized and mocked in the commercial media, and hence their power has been almost completely undermined. Let's not waste the power of numbers in the progressive blogosphere.

It's not necessary to create an entirely open blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase) a la skippy, Jon Swift, etc. But yes, it'll take work: The top progressive bloggers will not only have to work at discovering and describing issues, but also reading the lesser blogs to provide encouragement, support and community building. Writing about the issues is important, but I submit that this community-building work will be even more effective at actually implementing progressive politics, and it's absolutely necessary.

I'm doing my bit: I've started The Progressive Blogroll to collect the progressive bloggers.

The Rude Pundit has a wonderfully filthy mouth and an even dirtier mind, and is solidly progressive day in and day out. He tells us why Bill O'Reilly ought to be sodomized with a microphone, why Michelle Malkin Ought to Be Caged Like a Rabid Shihtzu, why Ann Coulter is a cunt (and all the ways The Rude Pundit wouldn't fuck her), the Rude One is the blogger for you.

Unfortunately, The Rude Pundit lists only a handful of blogs (mostly "A-List" mainstream blogs) in his sidebar and rarely mentions others in his posts. Fuck you, Rude One: Do you want our support? Then support us.

Orcinus is also reliably progressive, and Dave Neiwert has been right out front in his demolition of Jonah Goldberg's steaming pile of excrement book Liberal Fascism. Their exposure of Ron Paul's racist roots is second to none, and they've been consistently right about Christian Dominionism. Their blogroll is better than the Rude Pundit's, reaching down into the B-list, but they could do more to dig down and encourage the hoi polloi.

Dennis Perrin rants well about the current rotten state of this country, but he doesn't even have a blogroll [D'oh!] has a rather short blogroll. Come on, Dennis: You complain that no one is listening, but are you listening to the chorus of people who actually agree with you?

Jon Swift and skippy can't carry the whole burden for the top progressive bloggers.

Update: The Rude Pundit steps up! Mad props! Keep up the good work!