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Khalid Kamau, a very progressive activist lawyerendorsed by Our Revolution,earned a city council seat in South Fulton, Georgia, a newly incorporated municipality outside Atlanta. He won bya landslide with a grassroots message. He engaged average Americans on their turf. High-priced ads did not get him elected:engaging with people did.

Progressives from around the country invested more than$8 millionin getting Jon Ossoff into a runoff. How many additional dollars will be spent trying to take the seat? If he wins, it will bea symbolic victory. But win or lose, it willhave been a waste of resources that could otherwise get spent in local elections to bring more progressives into office in races throughout the country.

Most Americans are progressive in the majorityof their values. When asked about policies like Social Security, Medicare, the right to health care, or public education, they support these by overwhelming margins.So why is it that progressives, the folks who by definition will materially make the lives of the middle class and the poor better, have a hard time winning? The answer is: afailure to communicate.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. How many times do we hear consultants tell Democrats that theyjust need to bring out the base for a win? What happens when many in that base come out but instead vote against their interests, as they did in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin during the last presidential election? When will Democratic leaders realize what Republican consultants know but do not say? Party affiliation when folks enter the confines and privacy of the voting booth is fungible. And the party or group thatreaches voters on the carnal level ultimately wins.

The corporate establishment always knew that. Over the last several decadesthey've executed the Powell Manifesto, written by Democrat Lewis Powell, with abandon. The Republican Party and corporate Democrats have not deviated from its tenets. It is the reason we have an Affordable Care Act that benefitsinsurance companies that pilfer the average American citizen. It is the reason pharmaceutical companies are allowed to charge us exorbitantprices for drugs originally developed with taxpayer dollars. It is the reason we do not havesingle-payer/Medicare-for-allhealth care and universal health care, which is in effect in some form in every democratic industrialized country in the world.

So how does one stopthe insanity? Remember that party affiliation is fungible. People vote for those they connect with in their gut. One can demonstrate that Republican policies materially hurt most Americans. But the GOP wrap themselves in the flag andAmerica First rhetoric, and they instill a fear of the other. Progressives must use those same impulses, with the truth framed in similar terms.

Progressives must understand that it is about more than bringing out the base. It is about expanding and educating the base. The right counts on ignorance, and we must remember that ignorance defines our original state of being. The process of growing and teaching must start locally. We build trust locally.

All Americans want a good education for their children. That is one place where people can work together to elect school boards that are looking out for children. Parents working together will soon realize that the funding and laws they need to do better by their kids need legislation and financial support from the state. If the state politicians do not oblige, those same politicians get booted out. If the federal politicians do not support the requests of the state andlocal politicians, they are voted out. The common interest, with people working together, can create an actualwe, the people government.

The aforementioned scenario may be overly simplistic, but the process is definitely on point. It requires hard grassroots work to bring people together while fighting the misinformationdistributed bymany Washington think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and others. But it can be done. We must do it. If progressives win locallyby winning the hearts and minds of their friends, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances throughworking together on issues of shared concernthe national wins will follow.

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If progressives win locally, the national wins will follow - Daily Kos