Semi-random Thoughts on Political Action
Do what you can with the resources you currently have available
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Note: Everything in this post is my personal opinion. If you don’t agree, set up your own Substack. Or, leave me a comment.
Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
Call your elected officials:
On Monday I used the 5 Calls app on my phone to call my US House Rep. and both US Senators.
If I call early enough in the day I usually get to talk to a human staffer at my Republican Representative’s Washington DC office.
I call often, most business days.
When the staffer answered the phone I went into my usual spell, stating and spelling my name and giving my address. He cut me off saying something like, “Yeah, we know you, what’s today’s call about?”
My Representative, Young Kim, has never yet voted the way I think she should. In her entire house career, starting in 2021, she’s never held an in-person town hall meeting. She appears to be afraid of her constituents, especially those who disagree with her.
But damn it, she knows my name and positions!
So, call your elected officials.
It makes a difference. Even if you know they agree with you on most things, call them to encourage them to keep fighting for what’s right!
It takes about five or ten minutes a day.
The 5 Calls app or website lets you pick a subject, automatically dials the elected officials for you and provides you with a script for that issue.
It makes a difference.
Read good stuff:
I read this today in an essay titled “Total Eclipses“ by A.R. Moxon who publishes The Reframe.
The light is the abundant and generative expression of humanity and human relationship in all its wonderful diversity. The darkness is the void of white supremacy and fascism that has captured so many humans and created so much evil in the world.
He goes on to say he realizes this idea is not original with him, but it is currently apt.
Later in his essay he says:
For those who have progressed from the complacency of cynicism into actual hopeful action, there is a tendency to find a mission. This seems natural; there is so much that is broken today, and the white supremacist forces arrayed against repair are powerful. Anyone who tries to take it all on doesn't just risk becoming overwhelmed and burned out—they make burnout inevitable. Mission is what's needed. If mission isn't a helpful word for you, you might think of focus. You will do these things, you will not do those things. People bring what they have to offer to the moment, and find a place where they seem best suited to help. I think this is natural and appropriate.
He then warns against deciding that the mission or focus you have taken on is the only worthwhile mission, or the most important mission.
I’m seeing a lot of that in the organizations (Indivisible and 50501) that I’m currently participating in.
There is discord among the folks who want to protect law-abiding undocumented immigrants from being kidnapped off the streets and deported; those that want to end Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank; those who want to defeat Russia in Ukraine; those who want to protect the social safety net, e.g. Medicaid, Snap, Head Start, etc.; and many other missions to resist the march towards authoritarianism the current Presidential administration is leading.
I’m glad I’m not one of the organizers. It’s like hearing cats.
Moxon can get a little long-winded, but overall I like his message of love and understanding between humans and the pitfalls of supremacy, the idea that some humans are better and “more deserving” than other humans.
He writes that supremacist attitudes and beliefs are so ingrained in our culture that they are rarely questioned. Water to a fish.
He acknowledges that as a white human male in the US he occasionally unconsciously engages in supremacist thinking and attitudes and writes of his struggles to rise above this behavior.
I recommend you read at least some of his recent columns. They’re worth your time.
Other authors I find worthwhile include David McRaney, Joyce Vance, Paul Krugman, and on the lighter side, Jeff Maurer and Dave Barry.
If you have your own favorites please let me know in the comments:
Call to action:
Ask yourself, what can I do today to make the world better?
It takes almost no effort to call your elected officials.
Or, donate to a local food bank, either food and supplies or direct donations of cash. Find a local food bank at the link above and check their site for a list of food and supplies they need.
Or, go to one demonstration or rally this or next month. You can find them on the Indivisible, 50501 or Mobilize web sites. Indivisible and 50501 specialize in non-violent protest rallies. If you’re interested in throwing rocks and damaging property, please find some other organizations.
Or go to congress.gov to find the websites of your Congressperson and US Senators, then post a comment.
Or find some other way to participate that makes the best use of your time and talents.
If you think this country is moving in the wrong direction, take some small action today.
All it takes is lots and lots of people taking small actions to turn this country around, protect our democracy and, eventually, remove the authoritarians that are currently running this country into the ground.
Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
Trump lie of the week:
Lies our President has told recently. Not necessarily this week. I’m only posting statements rated “Pants On Fire!” by Politifact.
They’re now coming in faster than once a week! I may never catch up!
Musical Coda:
The great Sam Cooke singing A Change is Gonna Come in 1964. Still relevant 61 years later. Dammit, in the 60s I figured we’d be done with this shit by now!
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