Why does the right eat our lunch again? The existence of the infamous Powell memo (1971) is no secret to most lefty activists or to anyone who has listened to Thom Hartmann for more than 30 minutes. Movement conservatism sprouted in the 1970s in reaction to the social changes and liberalizing legislation of the 1960s. But the pushback was likely planted in the wake of Barry Goldwater’s landslide 1964 loss to Lyndon Johnson. Influential, deep-pocketed Republicans, back when they were also conservatives, knew their ideas were unpopular. They decided they needed a long-term marketing strategy to fulfill their antidemocratic visions for American oligarchy. Democrats (naively) never answered with marketing of their own. See, our ideas are popular, as self-evident as the Declaration’s ideals. They need no marketing. And here we are, decades later, facing an oligarchy led by a criminal autocrat bent on tearing down the country to its foundations. And the foundations too. Some of us who have been in this business since the Earth was young (O.G. Original Progressive Bloggers) reflect regularly on what might have been. Perhaps we’ll move from there to what to do now. The New York Times considers the media ecosystem that once-conservatives, now-reactionaries built. The introduction paints a picture of Democrats’ persistent resistance to selling themselves over the long haul. Atlanta-based influencer, Zackory Kirk (a.k.a. The Zactivist) boasts over 220,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere in social media, a following he’s built over four years. It’s not a lucrative gig, but in…