Heidi Li FeldmanGood evening, friends. I just got a phone call from a young friend of mine, currently serving as mayor of a small town in California (he’s on the town council, members rotate through the mayoral position.) He called because he’s feeling demoralized, naturally enough. So much of what he hoped he’d be working on during the next few years is now threatened As we conversed, I told him how I was thinking of my own public service, scholarship, and activism in light of a fascist elected to the WH. 1/
Then, I turned to possible parallels for him. My main thought was that if ever there were a time to be in public service, now is it. The need for service from local electeds is going to be huge. It might not take the form my friend hoped or planned. But it will damn sure be important. Then, I started asking about how my friend communicates with local officials from nearby towns and whether they have clear channels of communication with the governor. 2/
We went back and forth for a little while and by the end of the conversation we were both a bit energized. Obviously, it would be more agreeable if we could have happily discussed local policies that could be pursued were the federal government not on the verge of being a force for repression and authoritarianism. But what became clear is that now, more than ever, creative brainstorming is key. 3/
CavyherdI wonder if this might also be pertinent to this discussion:
https://plus.flux.community/p/why-trump-won-democrats-have-a-coalition
The Tl;dr is (approximately) the Right manages to cohere in a way that the Left really struggles to match.
It occurs to me that your notion of local electeds networking with each other might factor well into strengthening the Left's "ecosystem."