Desiring Machine

There seems to be a tension developing over where to host the 2008 convention. Kos talks about it here.

My gut tells me that moving the convention to Denver would be a good thing for politics in general, and for either party. I think the NY scenario is in the works because it favors the presumptive ‘08 nominee Hillary Clinton. But I have for awhile felt that the political focus of the country needs to move out west. Being a west coaster myself I guess I hold an implicit bias and distrust of the “east coast political establishment”. But I was enthusiastic about Kerry. Massachusetts holds a special place in my heart because of my grandfather.

But the focus of the political scene out west would be good for the nation as a whole. There are a lot of good ideas out here, and I think the nation needs to break out of its “beltway” thinking when it comes to the national political scene. Gingrich instintively understood this in ‘94 and drove it to victory in the congress and I think Dean “gets it” with his 50 state campaign. I will not deny that New York is the capital of the world in a lot of ways. But that doesn’t mean that they have to dominate everything. And more to the point moving a convention to a western state helps spread things out. The right has been able to cynically employ this Red State/Blue State division to our disadvantage. But the Red/Blue divide is more rhetorical flourish and fallacious thinking than it is reality. The west and the middle of the country is full of vibrant and progessive ideas and movement. Just take a guy like Brian Schweitzer from Montana, or Peter Goldmark from Eastern Washington. There is real thought leadership here. So that being said there is real value in having a convention in Denver. It helps solidify our party with the west, brings the entire nation into the political focus, and will likely turn up a lot of exciting and fresh political thinking.

As I have heard it said before, “Out West Where Its The Best!”

Oh and if you do make it to Colorado be sure to check out The Great Sand Dunes National Park one of the true natural wonders of the world.