I can't recommend enough centering your politics around the advancement of policies, rather than solely politicians. What's interesting about policy-centered politics is that it's both substantially radicalizing and interpersonally moderating at the same time. Here's why:
It's substantially radicalizing because the more you look under the hood of how systems work—and how many wonderful alternatives are being underutilized—the more you are outraged. I'm constantly thinking "Wow, it's even worse than it looks" and "The alternatives are everywhere!"
But it's interpersonally moderating, because there are strange bedfellows and surprising collaborators on so many different policy campaigns. Often the best ally on advancing a policy is the one most different than you on everything else. So you can't alienate too many people.
It's also very hope-inducing to push a policy forward. It's a real step-by-step process: You plant a seed with some opening salvo essay, then you get academics to legitimize it with a report, then get an experiment in some state, then try to get the party on board, and on and on.
Policy work also helps move politics from the assessment of different politician's and coalition's souls and styles — which takes up a lot of energy without a lot of forward motion these days — and gets down to the brass tacks of "do you support this or not?"
Also, policies—contrary to the conventional wisdom about values and rhetoric being more important—seem to be very energy generating. I still believe that Bernie's secret weapon was not his style/rhetoric, but the fact he was very substantive (Medicare for All, $15 wage, etc.).
Of course, policy is not enough. You need overarching structural vision. You need power-building and organizational strategy. You need your policies to arise from the bottom up. And big waves of change in rhetoric/attitude help open up vistas that were never available before.
But on a day-to-day, individual level, I just want to put a good word in to the politics of advancing policies. It's just very energizing, hope-inducing, productive, and yet still radical, bold and ambitious way of playing your part in public life.
