I’ve been thinking a lot about what you wrote. (For those who don’t know, I AM a consultant- yuck.)

A few things I’d add.

First, I support everything you are doing times 10.

Second, for decades, what consultants did could and did work. Television ad campaigns could help elect people. But that world has changed. TV audiences are at historic lows, and the old model of pouring most of a campaign’s money into a late, heavy television buy no longer makes sense. Consultants who continue to recommend that approach are too often doing what is best for their own business model- not what is best for their clients.

Third, the left does not have the infrastructure the right has built. We need permanent, always-on communications and organizing - not operations that spring up during campaigns and disappear the day after Election Day. And it cannot just mean supporting a handful of national groups. We need to build a real progressive organizing ecosystem: local, durable, connected, and capable of communicating year-round. That is where people can go to make change after working on a campaign. And full time organizing gets people healthcare and other benefits.

Finally, we need far more training. Campaign staff, activists, and local leaders are too dependent on consultants for basic skills. We should be giving grassroots organizers and super-volunteers the tools they need to build power themselves. With the right training, they can do much of what consultants are paid to do - and in areas like digital organizing and local communications, they can often do it better because they know the community, the relationships, and the people.

The goal should not be to make campaigns more dependent on consultants. It should be to make communities more powerful.

And again, thanks for all YOU do Amanda.