Mediaboss Marketing

The question remains whether the energy displayed Saturday will carry over into other ongoing local struggles.

Thousands of protesters attended the Cincinnati Sister March in solidarity with the Women's March on Washington, January 21, 2017. (Jen Lake)

Thousands marched Saturday in the Sister March in Cincinnati, one of the few Democratic strongholds in a state that Trump carried with 51.3 percent of the vote. Estimates put the crowd that gathered in Over-the-Rhines Washington Park at 7,000, an impressive showing in this metro area of just over 2 million people. Speakers at a rally prior to the march addressed the crowd on behalf of Planned Parenthood, a local organization supporting survivors of gender-based violence, and the Islamic Center of Cincinnati and Black Lives Matter Cincinnati, among other groups. The event attracted participants who were concerned about a variety of issues, from preserving the Affordable Care Act to combating police violence and preserving a science-based approach to climate change at the federal level.

In the crowd I met Debbie Sims, who sat on a bench holding a sign that read Hands Off My American Dream. It featured a simple drawing of a house and a seal identifying her as a member of Communities United for Action, a local organizing project that focuses on abuses in foreclosures and payday loans. Sims said shes worried that a Trump presidency will take us back a decade to the dark days of the last financial crisis. I know a lot of people who, during the Bush administration, lost their homes, lost their jobs, she told me. Sims is concerned about the concentration of power on the right, particularly as a resident of a state with a Republican governor. With the Republicans taking over, we dont have a leg to stand on, she said, explaining what had drawn her to the march. We have to fight. We cant just let the poor not have a voice. Debbie Sims holds a protest sign at the Cincinnati Sister March, January 21, 2017.

The effects of reactionary federal policies may not have hit this city yet, but the cultural impact of the Trump victory has. This weekend, swastikas and racist and homophobic graffiti were painted around the campus of Withrow University High School, where the student body is 97 percent young people of color. The phrase Fuck Niggers and Faggots was painted on sidewalks, and other slurs and swastikas were painted on signs and benches alongside the presidents name. Earlier this month, a vandal painted a swastika on the sign of a local Jewish seminary, Hebrew Union College.

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

In Hamilton County, 52.7 percent of voters supported Hillary Clinton. Its a slim margin that means most of those voters have neighbors and coworkers who support Trump. The counties that surround Cincinnati all went red: Clermont, Butler, and Warren County all went for Trump by more than 60 percent. Fran Carr and Pate Hutson live in Columbus but came to Cincinnati to march on Saturday with family. They are using Indivisible, an online resource compiled by former congressional staffers that explains how to best pressure elected officials, to figure out how to best organize with like-minded people. Carr also receives the Daily Action text, and said she makes a related phone call to legislators every day. But she said that of the many ways she commits herself to fighting the Trump administration, the hardest thing is engaging with friends who support him. One of my friends believes theres no such thing as white privilege. All of the examples I give, the ways that we enjoy white privilege, he just denies, Carr said. I keep finding a way for us to listen to each other. Its exhausting, its nauseating and its necessary. Jasmine Grant, left, at the Cincinnati Sister March, January 21, 2017.

Jasmine Grant, who is black, attended the noon rally, but as late as 11 am she was debating whether or not to show up. Grant was aware of the national conversation about whether the issues of women of color were being sidelined in the marches or else addressed hastily in a last-minute effort to respond to criticism. In the end, Grant opted to participate. I equally share in the frustration that when we have these conversations [about feminism], sometimes it seems like women of color are missing from those conversations, she told me. But in order to have a voice, I need to be here.

The question remains whether the energy displayed Saturday will carry over into other ongoing local struggles. For example, will the thousands who poured into downtown Cincinnatis streets show up for issues that matter to those who care about police violence? Will they show up for the retrial of Ray Tensing, a white former University of Cincinnati police officer who killed Sam Dubose, an unarmed black man, during a traffic stop? Thats the question members of Black Lives Matter Cincinnati raised when I asked how the march connected to their work. The first trial ended in November in a hung jury. Black Lives Matter activists at the Cincinnati Sister March, January 21, 2017.

The event was politically amorphous, Brian Taylor of BLM said of Saturdays rally, at which fellow BLM organizer Ashley Harrington spoke. The sentiment of the event is anti-Trump, but what people are for is yet to be seen.

Photos by Dani McClain except where otherwise noted.

Go here to read the rest:
Marching Against Trump, Progressives in Cincinnati Put a Blue Dot in Red Ohio - The Nation.

Columns

Jan 24, 2017

Progressives protests against all things Trump his sexism, crudeness, lack of impulse control, bigotry, fondness for Putin, conflicts of interest, lying, ties to Wall Street and more offer encouragement to the protestors but do too little to convert a critical mass of voters to progressive positions.

The protests and marches that have most notably changed the countrys direction have been dedicated to particular goals that were always kept in focus. Demonstrations against the Vietnam War were about ending the war. Civil rights demonstrations were about ending segregation.

Saturdays womens marches purported to be about womens issues, such as reproductive rights and equal pay, but there was also an element of women taking on the whole of Trumpism. They would have been more persuasive and more likely to spread if their goals had been less diffuse. Suppose, for example, equal pay alone attracted a large following of people who were so committed that they became one-issue voters. The resulting new wave of office holders would be supportive of many related progressive issues. One has but to think of the NRA.

Not only that. I quarrel with the notion that some issues are womens issues, as if they had no affect on men. If Roe v. Wade is overturned, for example, women will be affected more directly, of course. But abortions will continue, and it will be mens sisters, mothers, wives, daughters who break the law and risk dying of sepsis. Identifying issues as purely or strongly of benefit to women (when in fact those same issues apply to all of us, albeit in different ways) risks losing the support of the half of voters who are men.

So heres a question. If women wanted to stress the one goal that would be most effective in countering Trumps excesses, what would it be?

Reproductive rights? If that was going to get people out in the streets in a way that would defeat the anti-choice forces and usher in a generally more progressive government, it would already have happened.

Free trade? Too little understanding of that one. Too nuanced. Too little agreement. Seemingly too remote from the daily lives of ordinary people.

Military involvement abroad? That would work if we still had a draft and children of the powerful were fighting and dying. As it is, we hire people to do the fighting, and they dont elicit the same empathetic response that drafted soldiers do.

Grace and elegance in the use of English as a requirement for being president? I wish. But we proved with George W. Bush and now Donald Trump that too few voters value that.

Black Lives Matter may eventually change some things, but it hasnt yet. Occupy Wall Street had its 15 minutes of fame, but that was about all.

The demonstrations against the repeal of Obamacare and messing around with Medicare and Medicaid that occurred on Jan. 15 suggest it might be such a galvanizing issue. It was important enough for the people of Saranac Lake and numerous other locations to come together, march and organize. Those efforts may slow the dismantling of existing public medical care systems. Maybe more. I fervently hope so. I doubt, though, whether saving Obamacare is the galvanizing issue that will bring enough people together to make progressivism in general a force that wins more battles than it loses.

My bet is that the most effective counter to the excesses and retrograde positions and tone of Trumpism is well-organized, well-financed, take-no-prisoners opposition centered on unfair distribution of wealth and insufficient regulation of Wall Street. Alas, Bernie has probably aged out of another campaign. I hope there is someone out there who can fill his slot before its too late.

In this column two weeks ago, I made the case for trying to talk with people on the opposite side as the only way to lessen our divisions. You may find this piece inconsistent with that. I dont think so. I still believe in talking. Its just that while doing that, the left should also be working (demonstrating, marching, thinking, running for office) to make progressivism dominant. After that happens, well still be divided, and well still need to talk to each other.

Paul Willcott publishes somewhat longer essays about once a month at http://www.geezerblockhead.com.

I am just returned from the Womens March on D.C., and I would like to share my reasons for going in hope of ...

On Jan. 22, 2007, the Franklin County Traffic Safety Board sent out the first Did You Know article to the ...

Within the Adirondack Park Agency there is an institutional momentum toward the approval of permit applications. ...

Read the original:
Progressives need a single galvanizing issue - The Adirondack Daily Enterprise

This article originally appeared on The Conversation.

Things are not looking good for American progressives.

Donald Trump is poised to put in place many regressive policies in his quest to make America great again that are fundamentally at odds with what are generally considered progressive values such as transparency, inclusiveness, equity, fairness and dignity for all. Examples include his plans to build awall on the Mexican border, deport undocumented immigrants or atleast immigrants with criminal records,ban or severely restrict Muslims,deny climate changeandrepeal the Affordable Care Act, as well as hisconflicts of interestand possiblenepotism.

Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week

This situation is a stark reversal from only a few years ago when it seemed progressives were winning the battle of ideas on such issues asmarriage equalitythanks to theSupreme Courts 2014 decisionWall Street reformand the passage ofObamacare, which extended affordable health insurance to millions of Americans.

Today, this progress appears to be in jeopardy, while other pressing issues such aswidening income inequalityandclimate changedesperately need addressing. With both houses of Congress and the White House now in the grip of conservativesand the Supreme Court about to be steered to the right for potentially many years to comewhere do progressives go from here?

My research on how to affect large system change offers some answers. It begins with realizing progressives have a story problem.

Heres the thing: Conservatives have been remarkably effective atframing the debate and articulating what they stand for, as linguistGeorge Lakoffexplains in The All New Dont Think of an Elephant.

For example, the notions ofpersonal responsibility, limited government, free markets and free tradeare all deeply embedded in our collective psyches. Along with the maximization of shareholder wealth as the primary purpose of the corporation, these are all key elements of theneoliberal economic agendaestablished in the ashes of World War II.

While Trump may not adhere to all of these ideasmost notably free tradethey remain core elements of the Republican vision and most of the voters who elected him.

Contrast Hillary Clinton's nebulous "Stronger Together" slogan with Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again." Reuters

In contrast, progressives have been entirely ineffective at crafting a narrative and cant seem to agree on a core set of issues, values and supporting memes (in the form of phrases, images, words and symbols). Progressives act like what ecologistL. Hunter Lovinscalls a bucket of crabs. Crabs, placed in a bucket, are said to fight each other, pulling back down any crab that attempts to escape. Progressives, Lovins argues, do much the same in their otherwise laudable effort to be inclusive, democratic and accepting of multiple perspectives.

Lakoff, who directs the Center for Neural Mind and Society at the University of California at Berkeley, finds that progressives come in at least six different types,each with a different focus: socioeconomic themes, identity politics, environmentalism, civil liberties, spiritual renewal and anti-authoritarianism.

Each type thinks its ideas are most important. Thats the bucket of crabs.

Problematically for progressives, the battles they face are only getting bigger, more complex and more challenging. Besides protection of the hard-won rights of recent years, unprecedented levels of inequality, the looming threat of climate change and animpending employment crisisare all on the horizon.

Work Ive done with colleagues onlarge system changeoffers two considerations for progressives as they seek to find their footing in the current climate.

First, large system change takes place in a context ofcomplex systems fraught with wicked problems,which involve intertwined issues with no obvious beginnings or ends and many stakeholders with different ideas about what the problem actually is, what should be done about it and what it would even mean to solve the problem. Climate change, inequality and the jobs crisis all fit this framework.

Sounds like the bucket of crabs, no? In such systems, change can potentially come from many different quarters and numerous actors. By its nature, large system change cannot be controlled or planned as many people might like. Such change becomes particularly difficult when the people in charge, currently conservatives, disagree with the fundamental premises of would-be change agents.

How in this context could progressive change occur?

The second consideration provides an answer: Successful large system change is best guided by apowerful, coherent and compelling narrative or storybased on resonant core values andreadily transferable memes. Suchnarratives, values and memesshapeattitudes, beliefs and, ultimately, actions and policies. People respond to stories and compelling ideas (memes), not just long-winded policies, because stories not only explain what is happening but also tap into emotions and values.

In other words, to counteract the forces that would reverse President Barack Obamas policies to fight climate change or exacerbate income inequality by cutting taxes for the wealthy, progressives need to come together and find ways to clearly articulate what they stand for, while telling a simple and compelling story that shows how their ideas will help shape a better future.

Developing memes is an important part of that process. Memes arecore units of cultureand can be ideas like free markets or maximize shareholder wealth, phrases like Make America great again, symbols and images such as red baseball caps and pink pussyhats, pink hats with cat ears that symbolize resistance to misogyny. Such memes resonate broadly with people because they tap into and connect with their core values. They underpin and support a narrative and the way we relate to each other and the world around us.Their power and importanceare frequently overlooked in system change.

Consider the resonance of Make America great again combined with the symbolism of red baseball caps. They created a collective identity and identifiable area of agreement among Trump supporters. Contrast that with the considerably less resonant and memorable Stronger together and Im with her slogans of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

While it certainly lacks specifics, Make America great again sounds meaningful, presumably connects with something identifiable in supporters lives and clearly offers a vision of a different future. The vaguer Im with her or Stronger together slogans, in contrast, seem to offer little guidance about what the vision is or how to create a meaningful collective identity.

For progressives to succeed, they need to identify the common values, ideas and goals that create common ground, the same way conservatives have used individual responsibility and free markets.

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, 2008 Democratic presidential candidate and then chair of the Democratic National Committee, powerfully pointed out in 2007 thatpeople respond to and make choices on the basis of valuesand resonant supporting memes, not policy papers and positions.

Dean identifiedfairness, fiscal responsibility and strength/toughnessas core progressive values. A group calledThinkProgress addsto the list freedom (e.g., freedom of speech, association and religion, and freedom to have a fulfilling life), opportunity (e.g., preventing discrimination and embracing diversity), responsibility (individual and shared) and cooperation (recognizing our interconnectedness).

In such a progressive context, thestory for companiesmight be that they operate in fair markets (not just free markets) withcollective value(not just profitability or shareholder wealth) as a goal.

Or something like that. TheLeading for Wellbeingcoalition, for example, is an initiative set up by Lovins and others to develop an economy that provides well-being and dignity for all, where businesses work to enhance life in all respects. This kind of shared process of values identification and articulation is clearly needed right now.

Only by building such a powerful and unified vision can progressives continue to push their agenda in the era of Trump and conservative dominance in Washington.

Sandra Waddock isGalligan Chair of Strategy and Carroll School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, Boston College.

Continued here:
Progressives Need a Compelling Narrative in the Age of Trump - Newsweek

Katie Van Develde, senior-meteorology

Political protesting is not unfamiliar to Katie Van Develdes family in the 1970s, her dad took to the streets to protest the war in Vietnam. With older siblings who were also politically active, Van Develde said even as a kid she had an interest.

The secretary of College Progressives said the values Trump promotes are contradictory to the ones she was raised with in her liberal household growing up.

He brings out a lot of negativity you dont want to see, she said, and he doesnt value all people.

After the Womens March on Washington, however, Van Develde said the organizations work is not over. She said College Progressives are working to participate in more discourse and debates with other organizations because, we need to learn how to listen to each other, were all people and have to respect each other.

During his time at Penn State, Samuel Chelemer involved himself in politics as president of the political science association. However, traveling to the march was the first time he physically was taking a stand for political causes he believes in.

He said the last three months were a wakeup call for not only the country, but for himself. Respect for women, he said, was one of the biggest issues motivating him to become active.

I have women in my life I care about, and for the first time I did something other than writing a letter, he said. I have three nieces, older sisters and sexual assault survivors in the family. I dont know how I would to explain this election to my nieces the president is someone youre supposed to look up to, and I wouldnt want to leave them in a room alone with him.

Just because Chelemer graduated didnt stop him from returning to his Penn State roots to protest.

I have a pen and pencil, congressmen and women to write to and a checkbook, he said. Im not going to sit back and be quiet.

Anthony Zarzycki fell asleep on election night in 2008 before the results were announced. But the sound of Barak Obama supporters cheering and celebrating on TV woke him up and instantly drew him in. He said that moment was like gravity hitting him, and he knew history was changing.

His upbringing in the rural Poconos didnt expose him to politics, and it wasnt until he got to Penn State that he saw what political opportunities existed.

Opportunities such as serving as secretary of Students for Sanders, a member of NextGen Climate Change and a volunteer with the Clinton campaign in the fall.

For the better part of 2016 Zarzycki dedicated his time working toward the election.

The election in which his dad, granddad and uncle voted for Donald Trump.

Zarzycki said his family had an ongoing joke about their different political differences. Every time he would come home from school he would stick a Hillary Clinton sign in the front lawn, and the next time he came home his would dad find another reason to remove it.

Zarzycki laughed at this memory, but became serious when talking about where he sees the progressive movement going.

Trump ran on a populist message, and I hope this shows him that most people dont think thats the way to make America great, he said. So many people got energized by Bernie Sanders, and we need to invigorate and energize the people to bring back communication. Democracy cant work without the people.

Marco Ciappettas first foray into political activism was just a few months ago. It was the Tuesday after Election Day when he joined the several hundred students, faculty and community members that gathered on Old Main lawn for the Not my President protest. An experience which Ciapetta called nerve wracking, as he knew that form of protesting would be happening a lot more during the Trump administration.

A few months later when Ciappetta learned the College Progressives were going to the Womens March on Washington, he said he never felt such a strong need to participate in something.

Ive always been more empathetic, but that escalated in an international relations class when we learned about feminism, he said. Women, historically, have been the most oppressed and I truly believe men and women are equal.

Vladmir Putin is at the hot seat of Americas focus right now, but the Russian leader has long impacted Daria Sipiginas view of politics.

Sipigina is a masters student originally from the Ukraine a country that experienced a political revolution of its own in 2013. Sipigina said Ukraines revolution is similar to the current state of American politics, calling Donald Trumps populistic messages concerning.

Though shes an international student and didnt vote in the election, Sipigina said she felt compelled to protest because of Trumps relationship with Putin the leader who annexed Crimea and forced her native country into revolution. Thats why, she said, she wrote on her sign Trump Putin16 Make Tyranny Great Again.

Only through many deaths we understood how important a vote can be, she said. Our citizens are being killed. Americans should try to value their vote its taken for granted here and people dont realize how hard it is in some countries.

During her senior year of high school, classmates stuck Donald Trump stickers on Rylie Coopers car. In the red county of Juniata, Pa., Coopers liberal political views stuck out among the sea of the Make America Great Again hats that filled her schools hallway.

My dads a diehard democrat and taught me you didnt have to think like everyone else did, she said.

Cooper initially started as a Bernie Sanders supporter, and even made the visit to Penn State her senior year when he spoke in Rec Hall.

But from the moment Cooper came to campus as a student, she immediately joined the College Progressives. Even though she was always politically outspoken, she said the organization made her more outspoken about the issues shes most concerned with.

As a member of the LGBT community who lives with a chronic illness and is planning to study environmental sciences, her biggest concern are LGBT rights, healthcare and climate change.

At the march, Cooper found herself among likeminded women passionate about the same issues she is.

You dont need to study political science to be an activist, she said.

Despite not seeing the outcome of the presidential election that she wanted, president of College Democrats Veronica Weyhrauch has big plans for her organization going forward.

We have to make sure were not just showing up to a march on one day of the year, she said. Every day we need to focus on these issues.

Hearing speakers such as Gloria Steinem and Mothers of the Movement gave her that inspiration to keep that focus going the rest of the semester, she said.

College Democrats plans include interacting with local elected officials and launching a campus informational campaign on immigration.

A woman holds a sign above her head during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman stands on top of a rock and holds a sign in protest of the inauguration of Donald Trump during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Two men hold signs of Trump kissing Putin during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A group of people dance together as Madonna performs on stage during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Women hold signs during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman holds a sign during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman holds a sign ontop of a porta potty during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of protesters during the Womens March on Washington at the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

The metro station is filled with people after the Womens March on Washington in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

The metro station is filled with people after the Womens March on Washington in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of supporters participated in the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman has Trumps Hate drawn on her face during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman wears a pink mask during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Protesters raise their fists in the air during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of protesters participate in the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman holds a sign above her head during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman stands on top of a rock and holds a sign in protest of the inauguration of Donald Trump during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Two men hold signs of Trump kissing Putin during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A group of people dance together as Madonna performs on stage during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Women hold signs during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman holds a sign during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman holds a sign ontop of a porta potty during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of protesters during the Womens March on Washington at the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

The metro station is filled with people after the Womens March on Washington in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

The metro station is filled with people after the Womens March on Washington in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of supporters participated in the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman has Trumps Hate drawn on her face during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A woman wears a pink mask during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Protesters raise their fists in the air during the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

A huge turnout of protesters participate in the Womens March on Washington at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a day after the inauguration of Donald Trump on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2017.

Original post:
Penn State's College Progressives and Democrats 'march on Washington,' reflect on President Trump - The Daily Collegian Online

Protesters at the Womens March in Washington, D.C., show their support for the Indivisible Trump resistance movement. (via Indivisible)

Now that Donald Trump has been inaugurated, resistance is unavoidable. Just look at the reports of riots and protests filling your news feeds.

But preventing Congress from carrying out Trumps agenda takes more than vocalized disapproval and demonstrations. To explain what works, a group of progressivesincluding former Democratic congressional staff members and those who have worked on Capitol Hillcreated Indivisible, a guide to effective resistance that has been downloaded by more than half a million people in one month.

How would they know how to slow down federal policymaking? Theyve seen it all firsthand: In the early days of the Obama administration, these two dozen staffers could barely carry out daily tasks in their congressional offices as tea party adherents brought any action to a crawl by, in their words, scaring congressional Democrats and keeping Republicans honest.

The tea partys success was a disaster for President Obamas agenda and for our country, but that success should give us hope today, three former staffers wrote in a New York Times op-ed piece. It proved the power that local, defensive organizing can have.

Seven years later, these now-former staffers are arguing that progressives should look to replicate the ultraconservative movements defensive strategy. By organizing small grass-roots groups that pledge to hold their local districts representatives accountable to their constituentsas the tea party did, they noteprogressives have a chance to prevent Congress from passing agendas that undermine democracy.

Last month, the staffers compiled their collective knowledge of how congressional representatives offices work into a publicly accessible Google document that suggests actions aimed at effectively stiffening Democratic spines and weakening pro-Trump Republican resolve.

Not long afterward, the page crashed as secret progressive Facebook groups such as Pantsuit Nation and verified Twitter accounts shared the document across the web. Responding to the high demand, the authors then created an official website for the 25-page guide, now called Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.

The document, which can be read, downloaded and printed in English and Spanish on the Indivisible website, states: Our goal is to provide practical understanding of how your [members of Congress] think, and how you can demonstrate to them the depth and power of the opposition to Donald Trump and Republican congressional overreach.

It goes on to advise progressives on the most effective forms of resistance. This includes taking advantage of the fact that their members of Congress (MoC) are first and foremost beholden to their constituents.

Every single member of Congress is very focused on that goal of convincing their constituents that they are representing them in Congress, which is why relatively small numbers of constituents can really change the behavior of members of Congress, said Ezra Levin, a co-author of the guide and former policy adviser to U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas.

Conversely, the guide warns, reaching out to MoCs who dont represent you is a waste of time. Rep. Paul Ryan, for example, is not likely to respond to anyone outside his congressional district in Wisconsin.

Resistance on the local level can and will make an impact on a national level, the authors argue, and this isnt the time to rely on congressional members like U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., to hold Trump accountable. All it takes is convincing your representative that it is not in his or her best interest to allow the GOP-led Congress to get away with following through on Republican promises that include ending Medicare, creating a Muslim registry and privatizing public schools. If representatives go against their most passionate constituents interests, their re-election is in jeopardy, the authors write.

Federal policy change in the next four years doesnt depend on Mr. Trump but on whether our representatives support or oppose him, the guide says. And through local pressure, we have the power to shape what they consider possible.

Resistance should be easier with a petty tyrant named Trump than with the popular president with a mandate for change and a supermajority in Congress that the tea party faced, according to the guides authors. They write: Unlike President Obama Trump has no mandate, a slim congressional majority and a slew of brewing scandals. Our incoming president is a weak president, and he can be beat.

However, as they draw inspiration from the tea party, the authors make sure to differentiate themselves from petty scare tactics.

Their [the Trump campaigns] ideas were wrong, cruel, and tinged with racismand they won, they write. Resistance to Trump would be built on the values of inclusion, tolerance, and fairness.

In an interview with Truthdig, Indivisible co-author Angel Padilla, a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., emphasized that nothing in the guide is groundbreaking. It simply tapped into an already existing network of people who want to resist Trump but dont know how.

Indivisible is kind of the secret sauce that explains what is bubbling up as what may be the start of the anti-Trump movement, MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow explained in a segment on her eponymous show.

She continued: This has not really been cooking openly, in the Beltway media and on cable TV news, and in places we usually look for news about politics. It really has been cooking online, where it has taken off.

If you have trouble leaving a comment, review this help page. Still having problems? Let us know. If you find yourself moderated, take a moment to review our comment policy.

Excerpt from:
KiMi Robinson: 'Indivisible' Guide Teaches Progressives How to ... - Truthdig