After The March?

Great Women's March
But What Now 

The past two weekends I have attended political events, the first about climate action and the later just run of the mill political issues.

I did not think that either of them offered much in the way of a path toward changing things; I am 63 years old and have spent most of those years in Alabama and I have a hard as granite conclusion to share.

The central political power in this backwards state (senators and governors) have exactly nothing to fear from the left, rather all they have to fear is the perception that they are not rightward enough.
And wagging your fingers in their face and demanding they pay attention to you is not likely to accomplish anything positive for progressive causes, other than being a release for your indignation and angst!

Progressives seem to have a lot of faith in marching and chanting and I agree that the Women's March was a thing to behold and made all of us feel a whole lot better just after the inauguration of the idiot 45.
I used to be very idealistic and I still am to a degree, but I no longer think my 'magical thinking' and transcendentalism are going to somehow transform temporal political issues without a firm basis in the nuts and bolts of human nature and political reality.

What that means in practical terms is that going at Shelby and Strange is a waste of time because the can easily afford to ignore you and they have nothing to fear from you.

Rather I would suggest applying the single thing I learned in my abortive efforts in martial arts -- -- Above all, whatever difficult circumstances you may find yourself in -- -- Breathe and when an opponent is dominating you and you cannot move him, move yourself into a stronger position from which you may be able to fight or at least resist him!

What that would suggest to me in practical terms is to quit wagging your blue finger at their red necks and look for their weakness and attack them there.

-- -- Quit trying to move what is unmovable because it isn't going to move -- --

Organize locally with people you know and train people (particularly women) and assist them in running for city council, school boards, small town mayors and all of the day to day administrative positions that keep the wheels turning.

And for national politics, organize phone banks along the model of OFA to go right around Alabama and use the person-power to get other people in other states motivated, informed and voteing.