Nancy Kaffer

Detroit Free Press Columnist

Cooperation or principled resistance?

That's the question a lot of Democrats and progressives have wrestled with since Nov. 8.

The authors of "Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda" have an answer. And they'd like to tell you how.

For the last eight years, fueled by the rise of tea party activists, Republicans in the U.S. Congress worked diligently to stop President Barack Obama. From advancing a progressive agenda, sure. But the GOP's opposition went beyond ideological differences, a blanket obstructionism that most political insiders predicted would exact a price at the ballot box. Instead, the GOP was rewarded for its intransigence, taking the presidency and expanding its majorities in Congress.

And, the authors of the "Indivisible" guide argue, it's time to learn from them.

After the election, says Angel Padilla, a former congressional staffer and one of the many folks whose work went into producing the guide, "People were mourning something. ... People were mourning what we thought we were as a country. And so we wanted to make sure we harness that energy and show people there are things we can do to stop this. And we can win."

►Related: Undocumented immigrants and their kids anxious about Trump presidency

►Related: Trump, Fouts blur line between political correctness, simple decency

Tea party activists, the "Indivisible" guide's authors wrote, connected online, disgruntled conservatives coming together after Obama's election to discuss their fears and goals — the same kind of communities developing in the wake of this presidential election. And that grassroots coalition soon developed a functional plan for disruption.

Of self-identified tea party members, just 1 in 5 attended events or donated money, the "Indivisible" guide's authors — like Padilla, former congressional staffers — note. But because that relatively small group coordinated and executed its plans flawlessly, a comparatively small group of people had an outsize impact on national policy.

How? By ensuring the men and women who represented them in Congress heard their voices.

In 26 pages, the guide's authors analyze tea party tactics and explain how the same strategies can work for progressives and liberals in the age of President-elect Donald Trump — and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, all of whom have policy priorities anathema to progressives, and the American social compact since World War II.

"Members of Congress want their constituents to think well of them and they want good, local press. They hate surprises, wasted time and most of all, bad press that makes them look weak, unlikable and vulnerable. You will use these interests to make them listen and act," the authors wrote.

So show up, the guide's authors say — to town hall meetings, to your member of Congress' office, to other public events at which your congressperson is present. Ask questions — prepare and coordinate beforehand, and if you don't get an answer, or a pledge to support or not support a particular policy position, keep asking. Reach out to local media, letting reporters know who you are and what your group stands for.

Look at a 2009 town hall meeting in Fairfield, Conn. The district's congressman, Jim Hines, faced an unusual number of aggressive, challenging questions, the local newspaper reported, from constituents angry about health care reform, the national debt, the federal stimulus ... a laundry list of complaints it seems Himes wasn't expecting.

►Related: Legal scholars to Trump: Abide by Constitution

►Related: Beyond Obamacare: What the ACA has meant for Michigan

"Al Gore haters and (climate) skeptics were in surprisingly high attendance," the Fairfield Minuteman noted.

Surprising to the reporter, maybe, and almost certainly to the congressman. But for the Connecticut residents in question, it was the practiced outcome of an organized effort, documented in a leaked memo written by a local tea party organizer, that helped to provide a template for future disruption ... including, and this hits a little close to home, how reporters react to such tactics. When a quiet town hall turns feisty, well, it's a good story.

For some progressives, practicing the same obstructionism they've decried across the aisle may not sit well. And the guide is careful to delineate which tea party tactics aren't acceptable — making up facts, threats against perceived enemies, physical intimidation or hatemongering.

Fighting back by articulating and supporting a progressive policy agenda feels like the high road. But, Padilla says, it's important to be realistic about what's happening.

"A lot of us are still working toward progressive policies," he said. "But for the next four years, progressive policy is not on the table. We're not going to get good, progressive policies any time soon. So for us, the priority is to mitigate the harm, to prevent the damage to country, to our democracy and to the groups who are going to be most affected" by Trump's agenda.

To stand together, the guide says, indivisible.