Washington

Howard Dean put it this way: "You have the power!"

His brother, Jim Dean, now head of Democracy for America, put it this way: "We have to take ownership of the process."

Since the highly flawed 2000 election, progressives have slowly, ever so slowly been waking up to the need for taking ownership of the political process. At first, in all honesty, we were pretty lame at it at first. As recently as 2005 I saw the progressive grassroots, at least in NYC, largely unable to get its act together in any effective way. But by 2006 we started to see real results from what began in 2000.

The extreme right wing of the Republican Party took some 30 years to take nearly complete control of our political system. They did it by patiently and doggedly focusing on every elected position, no matter how low, in every state. They did it by repeating their agenda, their talking points over and over until people started absorbing it without even realizing it. They did it by taking over the media, station by station, newspaper by newspaper. They did it by focusing on LOCAL politics.

Progressives had lost that connection with local politics. But they have been rediscovering it. And that has led to a wave of new organizations that are revitalizing grassroots politics and reconnecting Democrats with their local community, a connection that should never have been lost.

Democracy for America, Wellstone Action, Blue Tiger Democrats, and Progressive Majority are, each in their own way, probably the most effective of these new organizations. Each has its own focus, its own strategy, and collectively they are making a real impact.