You've just got to show up.

Matt Stoller has a thought provoking post over at BOPnews, and raises an interteresting question.

From Josh Marshall to my Mom to Ed Cone to, well, nearly everyone I know, there is advice for Kerry. Do this. Do that. People won't care about the swift boats. Hit back NOW! Attack Bush on the issues. Attack Bush on his service. You're losing! You have to stand for something! I wish Americans cared about the issues! Bush is going to win! Bush can't win!

The hysteria is really remarkable. But why? What causes Democrats to act as if they are on an unpredictable roller coaster?

His own answer comes close, but while some of the facts are right, some of the analysis is, well, at least incomplete in my experience.

For instance, Matt argues that

The Democratic Party is awash in secretiveness, and while there have been Kerry emails which explain a bit of polling, one is mostly kept in the dark as to the strategic direction of the campaign. It's nice to be asked to phone bank, door-knock, and give money, but without being given an honest (not gussied up) appraisal or why or how this fits into an overall strategic picture, Democratic activists get upset that they have nothing to do that will make a difference. And so they resort to panic.

There are a couple of problems there, based on common misperceptions and questionable definitions. First of all, the Kerry/Edwards campaign isn't the Democratic Party. While the campaign is arguably secretive, that's not the Party's fault, and the Party is actually a pretty transparent, grass-roots driven organization (more on that point in a bit). In fact, campaigns have become increasingly divorced from the Party apparatus over the last 30 years or so, for a variety of reasons, mostly financial. Confusing the campaign and the Party is commonplace, but erroneous. That's a little less true in the case of incumbent campaigns, but only a little.

I'm also left wondering who the "Democratic activists" Matt's talking about are supposed to be. Is a blogger who hates Bush enough to line up behind a nominee he ardently opposed in the primaries a "Democratic activist"? Is someone who walks their precinct for the D nominee every four years a "Democratic activist"? Is someone who pencils in "Democrat" on their voter registration form, but never attends a Party meeting or writes a Party check a "Democratic activist"?

As someone who's considered himself a Democratic activist for some decades now, and has a fairly extensive Party resume to prove the point, I wonder. Because I've always felt that Democratic activists were the people who are active in the Democratic Party, not just in Presidential years, but year in and year out. People who attend meetings, serve on committees and do all the day by day drudgery that actually constitutes a political party. That, of course, is a mere fraction of the folks who identify as Democrats, or vote for the Democratic candidates. It's the, well, the activists. And you know, most of the Democratic activists I know (and I know many) are working way too hard on way too many things to panic.

But Matt makes another point that's absolutely spot on.

...right now, there are very few Democrats who feel connected to a Democratic organization.

That's true, but why? It's not like we Democrats actually operate in secret. There's almost certainly a listing in your local phone book for your county or state Party organization, and a phone call would doubtless quickly generate the time and place of your next local Party meeting, and you'd almost certainly find a room full (or, unfortunately, maybe not quite full) of folks who'd love to meet you, and love even more to put you to work.

I've always said that the Democratic Party consists of the people who show up, and the leadership, at the most basic level, consists of the people who show up early to set up the chairs and stay late to clean out the coffee pot. It's from their ranks that, by a democratic process, county and state committeepersons, and ultimately the DNC are elected. The Democratic Party has an incredibly open, small 'd' democratic process for selecting leaders.

But you do have to show up. Early, if you can. And stay. All year. Every year.

If you don't, you may indeed be an activist of any number of kinds, but are you really a Democratic activist? Well, maybe in your mind, but maybe not to the actual Democratic activists.

And the actual Democratic activists? Like I say, I know lots of them (heck, I are one) and there's precious little panic to be found among them.