Most people might immediately think that activism has to do with the political opposition, and in a sense, that’s definitely the stereotype, but it also importantly deals with the ruling party’s efforts to remain in power and popularize their agenda.
The Democrats are definitely in trouble, as anyone who followed the election can already tell, and they’re going to face an uphill battle in trying to regain the trust of ordinary Americans in convincing them that they have the solutions to the country’s problems. Additionally, so many Democrats have publicly embarrassed themselves by their response to Trump’s election, whether it was through crying and whiny messages on social media, ridiculous online videos, or even brutally attacking Trump supporters like what happened in Chicago recently.
On the other hand, the next four years are the Republicans’ to lose, literally. They’re in power now and can legally call all the shots if the party has the political will to do so, given how they control both houses of Congress plus the Presidency, though it’s possible that some so-called “moderate Republicans” which have personal grudges against Trump might try to sabotage his legislative agenda. This is why it becomes important for the Republicans to run their own activist ground game during the next four years to put pressure on these individuals and secure their electoral wins for the next time America goes to vote.
One of the trends that observers have noticed, though, is that both sides of the American political spectrum are becoming much more polarized and “extreme”. The left has the increasingly disruptive and, in disturbingly frequent cases, even violent “Black Lives Matter” movement and the socialist followers of Bernie Sanders, while the right has the Tea Party and an ever more vocal far-right – and in isolated instances, even racist and fascist – extreme minority.
It’ll be up to both parties to organize, encourage, and work with grassroots movements which they feel best define their political identity, while shunning and disowning those which detract from it. While Donald Trump will understandably occupy most of the country’s attention over the next four years, it’s the success of the grassroots which will determine what ultimately comes afterward.
Christopher Alan Driscoll, co-host of Carson's Corner on Blogtalk Radio, a show that covers activist politics and Roger Wilson, Federal trial lawyer from Atlanta, commented on the issue.
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