Activism: Van Jones says: Don't Mourn, Organize!

The institutions that empowered ordinary people -- urban political machines, labor unions, the Socialist Party, the Catholic Church, ethnic social clubs, independent print media, just recently Acorn -- have been systematically neutralized or destroyed. What will replace them? And how will the be replaced? Can the Democratic Party be wrested from the grip of the corporations? Should we organize electoral efforts around issues -- bringing an end to the war in Afghanistan, for example -- instead of around electing Democrats per se? There are independent parties on the ballots of many states -- socialists, Peace & Freedom, the Green Party, the Liberal Party, and so on; should the Dennis Kucinichs, Lynn Woolseys, Cindy Sheehans, Michael Moores, CodePinks, MoveOns, Tom Haydens, Robert Greenwalds, Jim Hightowers, et al, move to genuinely independent bases of power rather than depend on a compromised executive and corrupt or pusillanimous legislators? Should there be an independent party of the Left? Of Labor? Are independent parties doable without meaningful electoral reform -- instant run-offs, proportional representation, public financing -- as the first step on the road to new political power arrangements?