First, I don't know how many regular visitors we get here at the shebeen who are Democrats and who also are from Nebraska, but if there are any out there, you should know that the formidable Jane Fleming Kleeb, whose grassroots work in the tall grass helped stall the Keystone XL pipeline, the continent-spanning death funnel and conservative fetish object, is running for vice-chairman of the Nebraska State Democratic Committee.

(There was some talk that Kleeb would run for chairman, but she put her ego aside in favor of a unity ticket with current chair Vince Powers.)

This, of course, is exactly the kind of thing that progressive activists all over the country should be doing. Run for state committee seats. Run for the state legislature. Build a network. Do like the evangelical Right has done for 30 years.

Meanwhile, Kleeb and the other people fighting against the construction of ill-conceived pipelines have devised some pretty cool strategery as the next step in their struggle. They are asking activists in all the states facing this dilemma to plant corn and other crops along the proposed pipeline routes. The Seeds of Resistance movement is consonant with the basic principle that animated the fight against Keystone in Nebraska—that the fight is over the land itself, and over who the true owners of that land are. It is also consonant with tactics that Bold Nebraska, Kleeb's organization, has used before. In 2013, they built a renewable energy barn on the proposed Keystone route near Benedict, Nebraska.

This is the way movements are built. It's a long, slow and frustrating grind, but it's the only way that works.

Click here to respond to this post on the official Esquire Politics Facebook page.

Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io