All I will tell you is to start attending your local committee/precinct meetings and join your caucus. We are entering midterms season soon so this is a great time to get involved and learn the primary process and gain credibility quickly during a low intensity cycle. Find your couple issues or your candidate that you are passionate about and master the subject matter around it/them. Never show your power level to anyone ever.
Pick your volunteer roles carefully to highlight your best attributes and target what issue/candidate you want to impact. Political volunteering is the job interview for you.
Trust no one. Many GOP insiders are political lifers or socialites that don't actually give a shit except for climbing the ladder. Find them use them but never align yourself with them. (These people suck because they are often the best fundraisers so you need to placate them)
Read: Groundbreakers. How Obama 2.2 million volunteers transformed campaigning in America by Elizabeth McKenna This book pisses me off but it outlines how political campaigns are run these days. Understand the systems and methods that are used.
The inclination is to try and address the underlying systemic problems and go right tot he heart of the problem. This requires challenging some very dogmatic leftist assumptions that have become gospel to the marxist-progressives.
Unfortunately, incrementalism and chipping away at these structures is a more effective strategy right now. Don't let people know what your end goals are. If you want to eliminate abortion don't try and overturn row v wade but instead attack "4th" then 3rd then 2nd trimester abortions and the flesh trade or the "institutionalized racism that comes from Planned Parenthoods eugenic origins under Margret Sanger ;) Similarly, If you want to expand gun rights don't go for "everyone gets a full auto" but instead work on advocating hearing protection from suppressors or expanding Firearm carry reciprocity. Things like that. You need to dissect issues and be tactful and strategic about how you advance your agenda. Don't present your true intentions until the last possible moment so that your opponent cannot effectively plan a counter for them.
Its sun Tzu; appear weak when you are strong and strong when you are weak. Force your opponent into combat on favorable terms for yourself. Pick your battles so that you always win.
Basic stuff.
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