Make this your mantra: Every Election, Every Vote, Every Level of Every Time.

 Cookie has been thinking, long and hard, about why Democrats are losing the upper hand, and the answer is a tough one, but its also easy to explain.

Dems have been lulled into three fantasies. 

The First is "One and Done".  Dems have fought in the past, and righteously so since the 1960s, to advance our causes and see them done.  Be it legislative, judicial, or election, and think once the job is done, it's done. 

The Second is that things of importance "Stand" for the ages and cannot be revoked.

The Third is that only Presidential year general elections matter and sometimes off-year elections matter. 

This is a recipe for two things.  The first is that this tact means we are always playing defense - ALWAYS.  And you cannot win any game if all you do is play defense.  Playing defense means you are trying not to lose and you cannot win with that mindset. 

The second is that our opponents are always going to be chipping away at our wins by being better organized, playing dirty, and playing to win. And if that happens away they have eroded the grounds of last win and we will collapse so they can storm ahead.

We have to come to understand that we can only gain ground by: 

1) Voting in EVERY ELECTION.  Every one of them. 

2) That EVERY VOTE - and I mean every legal vote matters.  And I just don't mean that showing up is everything.  This is about setting differences aside, and focusing on what really matters together.  This is about uniting people and getting them to vote instead of assuming the other guy or gal is going to carry your belief system. 

3) EVERY LEVEL of government is equally important.  The old adage is true - "all politics is local" is truer now than it was before.  We have seen everything from education, public health, city, and state governments turn on their ends because people don't see off year and midterm elections as anything they need to worry about.  

The next generation of leadership is forged locally.  Local governments control state and national policies. and we have to learn that, except that, and work with it.  If we control local government, if we control state politics, then it follows that we drive national matters.   And we have ceded that area in too many states, school boards, etc., and so on. 

Every election, every vote, and every level of government matters.    And once we regain that place, we have to fight on to maintain it.

And the next election does begin in the weeks leading up to cast your vote.  The next election begins immediately after you cast your vote.  The other side isn't sitting around licking their wounds, they are out there trying to figure out how to screw us in the next election. 

EVERY ELECTION, EVERY VOTE, EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT, EVERY TIME.