"Making the perfect the enemy of the good."

[JHan]

113. Well, I do agree Dems could have done much better to sell H/C legislation to the public..

Instead, the Republicans often framed the narrative. The Republicans pushed a lot of disinformation about the ACA, to this day there's still confusion about the ACA. But beyond that..

One of the many things I like about Hillary's book is how she well she understands the opposition: in some paragraphs before the famous Sanders excerpt which made the rounds on the internet, she explains that it's not *JUST* money in politics we must be worried about. Money is merely a means to an end: The real battle is ideological. Any progress Democrats undertake will be met with well-heeled, synchronized opposition.

This is why comparisons between eras don't help anyone, governance is more transparent these days. There's also a lot more noise and more data. In the vast eco-system of modern media, how do you compete with your opponents and ensure your message penetrates that noise, how do you weaken the efforts of your opponents to weaponize data against you and influence opinion? We're in a meme war, as trivial as that sounds it's true. Republicans can drop little soundbites like "small government" ,"don't let D.C tell you what to do", and every variation of "state dependency" they can find, and they'll know it will appeal to the inherent hyper-individualism embedded in the American psyche, even if their actual policies harm people in the process.

3) All aspects of these campaigns must involve grassroots activists and keep them fully in the loop about strategy and proposals. Any victory we win depends on the creation and maintenance of enthusiasm, and actual respect for the grassroots is the only way to get that.

I don't know which grassroots activists you're thinking off but organized Activists on the ground understand the system and know how to agitate for change. They're the ones doing the hard work. Yes, respect is required all around, and an understanding that you don't tear allies down. Tearing allies down gives ammo to their opponents, who are also your opponents. Calling allies "shills" and "corporatist" "neoliberal" and most ridiculous of all "establishment" doesn't help. In other words, we don't need a repeat of 2016.