Stiffening the spine of progressive members of Congress is crucial.

Stiffening the spine of progressive members of Congress is crucial.

You have to be local. You have to focus on your local members of Congress.

A lot of people are worried that many of our rights and privileges we've come to expect as part of the American democratic process will be abandoned or restricted in some way. That is a valid fear and it makes it all the more important that people get together now to prevent any possible damage.

The bottom line is that every single member of Congress has to get voted into office every two or six years. That means they need to look really good in their home district and state. That means good local press. That means people in their district thinking, "Man, I really don't like Congress, but I like Senator Bob."

I really do not think there is a serious split between Republicans and Democrats in Congress in how responsive they are to constituents.

The tea party had a lot of nasty tactics that were needlessly aggressive and petty and scary. But they proved it is indeed possible for a committed, relatively small number of folks across the country to make Congress listen to them and to slow and stop an agenda.