And therein lies the likely problem. If you feel this strongly about things, then please stop complaining, get out there and get involved on a local level. Take the time to educate yourself about the politics of your own community, and you'll likely find that there are others of similar mindsets who'd be more than willing to make common cause with you, if you but seized the initiative and made the effort.

And who knows, by doing so, you might find -- as I did when I started 25 years ago -- that the Democratic precincts and districts in your region or state are so loosely organized as to be ripe for the plucking. I'll even show you how to assess the prospects and do it, if so asked. Because in order to get things accomplished politically, you have to start by working to maneuver yourself into a position where the powers-that-be ignore you at their own peril.

In my old east Honolulu region, I worked like hell at organizing my four districts. I'm proud to say that by the time I moved to Hilo last year, that six-mile stretch of Oahu's southern coastline from Diamond Head to Makapuu Point is where one out of every eight card-carrying members of the Democratic Party in the entire State of Hawaii presently resides -- including our State Party Chair and two Democratic National Committeemembers.

And our capacity to turn out the Democratic vote in that region is substantial. When Gov. Ige was elected in 2014, more than 40% of his margin of victory was derived in east Honolulu.

That's called clout. How you attain it is by organizing, organizing, organizing. There is no easy short cut.