Wyoming Progressives -- you are not alone!

One of the most encouraging aspects of Netroots Nation was this: we are not alone. Lots of progressive bloggers out there -- lots of progressives, period! As one speaker said, NN is the annual occasion to recharge and then charge back into the fray at the local level. Netroots bloggers are globally connected but are most effective at acting locally. Where have I heard that before? I learned the tricks of the blogging trade from my fellow bloggers at 4&20 blackbirds and Left in the West in Montana, and from the Kossacks at Daily Kos.

Here's an invitation to progressive bloggers in Wyoming. Get connected with one another. I was a lone wolf for years. I'm a writer, after all, and an independent-minded westerner. Only lately have I started reaching out to my Wyoming brethren and sistren. We need to connect with on another. This blog has a news feed from active WY bloggers such as Out in the West and Blowing in the Wyoming Wind and Equality State Watch.

Next step: start planning for Netroots Nation 12 in Providence, R.I. Democracy for America, America's Voice, Presente and Sojourners. DFA will begin voting next spring for scholarship candidates. Vote early and often, as you did for me. And start saving now for a plane ticket.

Netroots Nation has many sponsors, including SEIU (my union), MoveOn.org, the National Education Association, LiUNA!, AFL-CIO, and a host of others. Hundreds of people contributed to the DFA scholarship fund. I contributed to next year's fund. As I wrote my check, other people at the closing keynote session slipped credit card slips and $20 bills into envelopes as the hat was passed. A generous bunch. We were thinking about how much we got out of this gathering and how energizing it would be for others.

NN12 will be June 7-10. We already know that our presidential candidate will be Barack Obama. But who will be the Republican choice? Whoever it is, he or she will not have our best interests in mind on the long campaign trail to the November elections. He (Mitt Romney?) or she (Michelle Bachmann?) will be actively working to kill union jobs, curtail voting rights, privatize Social Security, dismantle Medicare and Medicaid, and expand tax cuts for corporations and millionaires. Sounds like an anti-American agenda to me.

NN12 will be exciting and energizing. I will be there. Will you?