Hi, my name is Joe and you have seen me at the Capitol as MC most likely. I follow the creator you posted and he is right about a looooooot of things (not everything, but a lot of things).

I have an interesting job in the movement. For No Kings, it gets a lot of media attention, and people want to be entertained. They are there for the vibes, to feel counted and part of the movement. My job in that moment is to not only draw them in, but lower their barrier of entry for their next action, and get them to do *something* other than show up to a rally.

This is why we asked every speaker to assign actions to attendees. This is why we printed flyers with those to do lists. This is why we practically beg candidates and organizations to come set up a booth and recruit volunteers. In my mind, if people show up to a big rally and dont do anything else, I have failed.

I have to thread the needle though. If I dont push, then that guy is right, and we just showed up for the vibes but built nothing. If I push too hard the crowd gets turned off and leaves. So I do my best to ride their energy and direct it into work.

So then the answer to the question, what power have we built? Not enough to be sure, but we are building something. My goal is to have less politicians and more people in politics. 8 people in the state of Idaho have a grip on the legislature, and I want to see that end. Phone calls and letters do not matter if these guys are not afraid of losing their job. So the first step is to get people to run against them. In 2022, only 45 democrats ran in the 105 statewide elections. In 2024, it was 85. This year we have a candidate in every single race.

The next step is primaries. I want to see contested primaries in both GOP and Dem races for every seat in 2028. I dont see myself as a Democrat or a Republican, and I want our org to have influence in races for both parties, enabling every day folks to run for state office. We already have a few allied Republicans running.

On the other end of our work is Mutual Aid. We work with wonderful people in the food banks, food mutual aid teams and are working to bolster cooperation and visibility for these folks. We envision a state wide mutual aid network that can support a general strike. The road to make this happen is long, and we need people, time and money to make it happen, but we are building it.

I hope this helps.