Is it worth it to only push the progressive agenda at the national level?
Starting in 2009, it was obvious that the road toward progressive reforms would be long and difficult. Even with a super-majority in both wings of congress, it was difficult to pass meaningful legislation. After the 2010 midterms, that became downright impossible.
When Republicans lost control of both branches in 2008, they took up a different strategy. They still had control over many state legislatures, used that power to great effect. Through the court system, the ACLU and others have been fighting Republican-sponsored laws in many states. They passed laws to gerrymander districts, restrict voting rights, legalize discrimination against undesirables, limit access to abortion and dismantle education, among many others.
What progressive laws have Democrats passed that we should note? Many states legalized gay marriage before it became the law of the land. Some legalized pot (yay?). Vermont attempted to institute single-payer health care, but failed financially.
If you'll notice in the DNC platform, a great deal of it is maintaining the status quo. Maintaining the right to abortion. Maintaining civil rights. Maintaining funding for education. It's time to put our policies where our mouth is and start rolling out environmental regulations, healthcare reform and worker protections at the state level.
There is already a steady stream of inter-state immigration to hubs like NYC and LA due to the expanded opportunities in big cities. If we make this a competition between states for workers, we might see the other hubs like Texas start to enact worker-friendly and progressive laws.
The primary engine for this kind of economic success is education. An educated populace is the fuel for new, innovative industries. States in which conservative policies have ruled for decades often have the worst educational systems. Oklahoma's education system is suffering so badly that they're moving to a 4-day school week. Republican skepticism around teachers' salaries and administrative costs, as well as their push for charter schools and religious instruction in public schools have led to a climate in these states where the schools are starved for funding, and lambasted for failing to improve when given an additional pittance.
There is also the issue of healthcare reform. Most of the issues with healthcare costs are due to anti-competitive practices that the healthcare industry has adopted. Individual procedures have no fixed costs, medical schools artificially limit the supply of doctors and hospitals aren't allowed to exist within a certain distance of another hospital. Some of these are even encoded in state law. Democrats are going to have to take a stand against healthcare companies and pass meaningful reform aimed at restoring competition to the industry.
The Trump victory means a potential for Progressives to show what they're made of, and to show that our ideas are indeed better.