Depends on whether you live in a state that already has independent power-building orgs or not. Take a look at who Movement Voter Project is supporting. Also look at Swing Left's new Ground Truth program. There are green shoots in many places working around/past the DNC.

Turns out there's a playbook called the "W.A.R. Room" written by top party operatives where all of this is advised as the best way to win tough elections. More in my newsletter this week (5/5) (link below). open.substack.com/pub/theconne...

...with that city crying out for support as it prepares to stage a General Strike on Friday, are many Democrats saying little or, worse, pre-emptively advising their colleagues to reject the slogan “Abolish ICE” in favor of softer phrasing like “reform and retrain ICE”? (4/n)

Why, for example, in this moment of deepening national crisis, with a major American city under violent attack by federal agents who have been told by their masters that they have absolute immunity from prosecution... (3/n)

...and appeal to middle-of-the-road voters by distancing themselves from liberal or left-wing positions, while saying nothing about the danger of rising fascism or elections in 2026 that may be neither free nor fair? ... (2/n)

Many attending a Chester village board mtg Monday night correctly called it a “concentration camp.” Attention is high and public opinion is shifting rapidly against ICE’s operations and existence. This isn't just NIMBYism anymore, it's fierce moral outrage. (2/2) open.substack.com/pub/theconne...

While NIMBYism will help stymie a lot of these ICE detention centers, I’m impressed by how many of tonight’s speakers have instead spoken about immigrants as human beings with rights, ICE as “today’s Gestapo” and these facilities as “concentration camps.” At least here in purple NY, memory lives.

I asked one attendee why she was here. She said, “Because I’m against any concentration camp.”

Chester’s mayor, Tom Bell, a Republican, has shared a noncommittal statement in advance saying nothing official has happened yet, while the town supervisor, Brandon Holdridge, a Democrat, has already said he opposes it. The board mtg had to be moved to a larger venue to handle the crowd.

NY Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins joined the protest and affirmed her commitment to moving NYForAll forward (an important shift by her). Also said “we must resist.”

And finally, the war on Iraq was only stopped when Congress turned against it, starting with the election of 2006 and then when Obama won over Bush in 2008. So what's needed most is Members of Congress with spines who understand the Constitution and our history.

Beware of ANSWER, an offshoot of the Worker's World Party, which hasn't met a third-world dictator that it couldn't find a way to praise.

Also, self-marginalization is self-defeating. Far better to lead with religious leaders, union heads, ex-generals, veterans and blue-collar celebrities, than leftie artists and moviestars and academics.