Zack raises a lot of interesting points in history and ask some good questions. I enjoyed this part:

Organizers these days tend to fall into one of two camps. The first are followers of Saul Alinsky, who is being remembered in this TPMCafe thread. They believe their job is not to lead, but to teach The People how to lead themselves (by practicing “leadership development” and “consciousness raising”). The other camp believes their job is to steamroller The People into doing what’s best for them (because they are not capable of leading themselves).

Please notice what these camps have in common: Both see themselves as separate from The People. Both see The People an object that must be treated by organizers in certain ways to achieve desired outcomes. One camp fancies itself more democratic; the other more realistic and results-oriented. They are unified in their belief that they each possess a special status apart from The People. To both, “We, The People” could only be a bit of good PR, not a sincere sentiment.

The intertubes are fun places, and so surfing around I came across right after reading Zack, this bit by one Dr. Herb Ruhs:

While we are entranced by the problem of what to do about the cast of the monster movie that we call our Federal Government, it is useful to recognize that these monsters only exist as a result of an extensive support from thousands of folks who
live right under our noses in every city, town and village.

They are pretty easy to locate. Generally they all live in the same neighborhoods,
occupy the same sorts of mini-mansions, go to the same elite charity balls and political fundraisers.

Granted, any perceived interference with these folks is going to provoke violence from the cops, but, with little effort and little risk, a list of these people should be possible to publish, so that folks can at least identify their local oppressors. It should be possible to do informational pickets at their events and in front of their hideaways.

It is possible to get in the faces of local
people who support those in Washington (who cannot be directly confronted). The bedrock of our political problems lives right there with us and we can do something about them even if we can't confront the police or the army. Shame on them. Let them feel the shame. Bring sick and injured children to confront them. Have church services in the streets in front of their homes. Hell, get the Pentecostals to conduct candlelight marches to drive out the demons that posses them.

Face it folks, we are now in the opening stages of a civil war based largely on class. If you don't even know who in your community is calling down the dogs on you, what chance do you have?

Also, a lot of these people live in fantasy worlds, continually furnished and expanded by their propaganda networks -- Fox (so called fair and balanced) News, The Wall Street Journal, and countless other sources of self-smug congratulation.

For some of these people, being confronted personally is likely to crack this shell of unreality that envelops them. A non-violent approach here might even succeed in recruiting some of these people, some of whom actually have useful talents beyond conspicuous consumption, back to membership in the human race, where we need all the help we can get.

This is directly from "The People." And it's pretty mild, compared to what you could find floating around the internets, with a little effort. Leadership is about responsibility, and as localities experience conditions in which people demand someone take responsibility for changing them, some people will fill that role. It will be interesting to watch how experienced organizers meet that with leading, following, or standing aside.

We'll find out soon enough, as leadership really is at a premium in certain areas and the national level bullpen is extremely weak and shallow. Nature abhors a vaccum, and something will develop fill our current void.