brendan halpin

So I went to a house party for my representative in congress, Ayanna Pressley, last night. I’m as frustrated with the Democratic Party as anyone, but Ayanna Pressley is one of the best Democratic politicians in the country, and I believe that those of us who haven’t given up on electoral politics have a responsibility to support the left wing of the Democratic Party wherever possible.

Representative Pressley is super cool and a great speaker and funny and charming and spent over 2 hours in conversation with our host. It was really energizing to spend time listening to her. I have some takeaways from things she said.

Disclaimer: everything here is filtered through my memory and is not a direct quote from the Representative.

1.) When the people lead, politicians follow. Big pieces of progressive legislation that helped move the needle toward justice came about as a result of activism, not because politicians came up with them on their own and decided to champion them.

2.)When you see your elected official doing something cool, call or email the office to commend them. They don’t know how their constituents feel if we don’t tell them.

3.) Even Representative Pressley, who is certainly one of the smartest and least DC Bubble-ish people in Congress, doesn’t know exactly what we want when we say we want the Democrats to be doing more. So, again, we have to tell them. Specifically. Not just “you need to stand up,” but exactly what you want to see. This isn’t a guarantee that they’ll do it, of course, but, again, they won’t know what we want if we don’t tell them.

4.) Don’t assume that even if your representative is a reliable progressive that they’re following every single bill because that’s pretty much impossible. Again, reach out and tell them which pieces of legislation you want them to pay attention to, co-sponsor, and support. (or, you know, vote against too!)

5.) I’ve long known the Democratic party is in love with the center, but Representative Pressley really broke it down—there are certain Democratic elected officials from purple districts or even red districts, and the party (or, anyway, the DCCC) is convinced that those folks are key to gaining or maintaining a majority, so they figure moving right is the way to keep those seats. I think a better strategy would be, you know, actually standing for something, but I’m not a high-priced consultant.

I guess my overall takeaway is this: our elected officials work for us, and we have to be very engaged bosses during this time. I have to admit that I rarely contact Representative Pressley. For progressives who live in purple or red districts, I think it’s especially important to contact your representatives and let them know what you do and do not support, but that’s true even of those of us in districts with progressive Democratic or Republican elected officials.

Finally, this, which I have heard her say before—the point of Bannon/Trump’s “Flood the Zone” strategy is to make us feel like fascism’s triumph is inevitable, so it’s important to remember that it’s not and to keep doing stuff, even if what you’re doing seems small.

That’s what I got for you, folks. Hope it helps!