Despite the fact that it’s not a major focus of the blog, I think a lot about local electoral politics. What often stands out to me is the fact that local progressives* (see note at bottom), despite making up a rather large portion of the political establishment in Iowa City, don’t do very well in elections. And this goes both locally and statewide.
I have a stock explanation for this, and some readers are probably tired of hearing it. It’s that progressives aren’t committed to doing the kind of organizing from the ground up that’s required to build a mass movement. Instead, they preach at the choir. Or, at best, they try to recruit a couple of new members to the choir.
They also base some of their ideas on unpopular slogans. And activist movements are often a mess, but that’s less a cause than an effect of the factors listed above.
For a moment, however, let’s get past this high level criticism and into the details.
