I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is generally to the political left of Democrats. Currently, Obama defines the left end of the Democratic party, with only a few Dems in the House and one independent Senator Bernie Sanders to his left.
Although this situation is much better than when Bill Clinton was president, since Obama is actually a liberal while Bill was a moderate triangulator, it still begs the question of what folks like us can do to have some impact on politics today.
I'll explore this below.
If you're like me, your politics are farther left than the Dems. Perhaps you want single payer/free/universal/nonprofit health care or other aspects of democratic socialism. Perhaps you want structural changes to our system to reflect the importance of the earth's ecology and sympathize with the Greens. Perhaps you want to end the US empire of military bases around the world and our constant wars. Or maybe you're an anti-authoritarian left-libertarian who tends toward philosophical anarchism. Or many other possibilities, like taxing the rich more and reducing the power of corporations.
In any case, today's US politics has swung to the left, but at this point no farther than the liberal capitalism as envisioned by Obama. Fortunately, unlike the Clinton years, there are actually a few voices in the corporate media pushing the president from the left (thanks to Paul Krugman and Frank Rich), and the GOP is in impotent disarray, still believing that they can manufacture their own reality (and redefine teabagging).
After having spent years in the antiwar and ecology movements, I have come to agree with Kos that street protests/rallies are largely useless, and not just because the media distorts them so terribly.
I still believe in the importance and power of education, especially in the US where most people are grossly ignorant of the basic facts of our government and governmental budget. Education is a good long term structural aid, but it isn't immediate activism.
So what is the best way to push Obama and the Dems to the left toward more progressive principles? I'm open to suggestions.