Discussion: how do you choose where to put your energy?

[tanaqui]

I'm sure many of us are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of different issues being raised by the Minority President's administration: attacks on the media, Russian interference, threats to the ACA and abortion rights, immigration, First Amendment rights and Net Neutrality, dismantling public protections for our environment and our finances....

We've already had a post about how to approach your activism once you've decided which issues you want to work on. But, as sathari said in a comment to the last check-in post:

[T]here are so many things WRONG, which are the MOST wrong that I need to speak up about RIGHT NOW?

So this post is a place for people to suggest ways we can each figure out where we're going to put our energies when so much is wrong but we can't tackle all of it.

Comments

[sathari]

Upstanding this, maybe awkwardly, but what I meant by that quote was---

Which are the most immediate, specific, in-the-moment, things that are the points at which the current administration is weakest? Where if we all push on those we can make something happen, as we almost did with DeVos, actually did with Pudzer, and made Sessions step back at least a little bit? As in, WE DID THIS, when we came together at a specific vulnerable spot, and I want us to coordinate on what those are. (Seriously, I'm reading how the Watergate playbook is not a good look for this administration, and how we who are on the Constitutionalist opposition need to join ranks across various lines.)

[tassosss]

That's a good point. I guess, for me, that has to come from paying attention to the movement as a whole, outside of day to day efforts. I don't feel like I know well enough which are the pressure points to push on, so I'd have to track what other activists are doing.

[tanaqui]

My impression is that the daily or weekly action email lists are probably the best place for identifying those weak points, especially as they're able to marshal a critical mass of people (who normally focus on different issues) to come together to take action. So it's maybe a question of tracking a few of them and seeing which issues everyone is pushing on -- since those are likely to be the key ones -- and figuring out if any particular email list seems to consistently pick up on the most important actions and suggest them quickly enough.

[sathari]

Yeah, that's sounding about right--- a formula of "action lists + media coverage = critical issues", so to speak.