Discussion: Steps to materializing goals like those in the Gore speech

[SujiwanKenobee]

We watched Gore's speech and were emotionally moved by his oratory. The usual reaction at this house when something hits home is sending letters to our Congressman and "Can you believe this sh*t" e-mail to friends and family. We often get responses back from Congress, at times personal from the side of the same mental persuasion, but form responses from the other side--even a second copy in return to requests for clarification. This makes me think that as the minority view, we are not successfully reaching into the majority party by this effort. Not much return on energy expenditure... I think the friends and family receive but don't act on anything unless they forward info on.

On DU, most discussion is preaching to the choir, hashing out positions or exorting people who are already convinced to do more *something* (or maybe just experiencing a sense of belonging and comradeship on this site not available elsewhere.)

For the doers--who/what groups are you expending energy trying to reach? What's your message?

Are you targeting:
1. People who profess to be liberal/progressive but are "do nothings"?
2. People who aren't sure where they stand on issues?
3. People who are disinterested in politics at the moment?
4. People who are some version of Republican/conservative?
5. The vast American public
6. Your personal politicians/political leaders?
7.. Media--either as a contributor or applying a verbal whip directly to MSN?
8. Court system
9. Other

People keep wondering when we're going to have a revolution in the streets, but it seems like there have to be a series of steps to get to where the most concerned activists are from where most of the groups above are. For your targeted group(s), what kind of "baby steps" goals/timelines are you OK with? What do you consider progress and how are you measuring your effectiveness?