While I do believe there is a marked difference between the candidates for President this year, and while I also believe that the civil rights, environmental, educational, war, and security policies that will be enacted in the next four years will be radically different depending on who is elected NEXT TUESDAY, I don’t think my own long term (meaning the next four years) will be substantially different. Make no mistake: if Kerry gets in I will heave a huge sigh of relief and go screaming through the streets. And probably I will go screaming through the streets if Bush gets in, too, for entirely different reasons. And as much I’d like to believe that when Kerry gets in the world will be suffused with roseate hue and birds will sing and rainbows arch across the sky, it’s dangerous to think so. If nothing else, the craziness of this election so far has convinced me that that the personal really is political and vice versa, in that we all have an obligation to live a full political life because the actions of our government affect us all in ways we don’t usually appreciate, until, for example, we want a job that makes use of our expensive education. Until we want to breathe clean air. Until we get out tours of duties extended indefinitely. Until we want to marry the people we love or exercise control over our bodies, or buy both prescription drugs and durable medical equipment, or exercise free speech, or feel that as a nation we’re not feared and despised. Then, all of a sudden, the actions of a bunch of white men in Washington expand to fill our worlds and we wonder what we’ve been doing all this time. That’s how it’s been for me, anyway.
So even though I’d like to say that I’ll be able to relax a little on November 3rd and just trust the nice Democrats in the White House to take care of things for me, I have to acknowledge that probably it won’t work that way. Because who knows, really, what Kerry’s secrets are, the ones that will affect us all in his administration? Who knows what’s really going on with him? He seems sober and competent and thoughtful, which is more than I can say for the incumbent, but he’s got his weaknesses like everyone, and all we can do is hope that if he’s elected and the ensuing lawsuits give him the presidency, because apparently that’s how we do things now, his weaknesses won’t substantially derail the country, that they’ll be balanced by his strengths and those of the people around him. But it’s not enough to hope that, I don’t think anymore, it’s not enough to get caught up in election fever and read the blogs obsessively and cry foul over the polls and tear my hair out during the debates. I’m beginning to think I want political activism to be a component of my life, all the time. I’m not ready to do advocacy full time or anything; I think probably I’ll keep my job and keep going to bellydance and singing karaoke and everything, but I’d like to involve myself a little more in the larger world as well.
So, regardless of who gets in next week (or, more likely, in the weeks after), here are a couple of things I’d like to do after the elections:
Attempt to keep myself informed about the day to day running of the country and my state. I’m concerned about Iraq (oh yeah, and Afghanistan!) but I’m especially interested in domestic issues like social services programs, civil rights, alternative energy sources, global warming, and church-state separation. Some of these are more salient for me on the local level than the national, and vice-versa. I’d like to get to a point where I can talk intelligently about the ramifications of attendant policy not only with people who ostensibly agree with me but also with people coming from different perspectives.
Participate more in communicating with my elected officials. As a direct result of all this informed-ness, you know. I’ve had some good luck calling up Patty and Maria and identifying myself as a constituent, so I hope that continues to be true. I’d also like to learn to write an effective letter-to-the-editor and actually send it. Baby steps, I know.
Eschew useless bipartisanship So it’s no secret that I’m a little more to the left of center, politically. I find I get more so every year. That’s all fine and good, but as I’ve been noticing lately, I am a little tone-deaf to the intricacies of the beliefs of those who fall more to the right. I do live in a bubble most of the time, which I generally find very comforting, but I also see that it’s detrimental to my understanding of how the world works. I want to stop my knee-jerk assumptions about Republicans…it’s not that I think, for example, that everything the Democrats do is right, more that I think that everything the Republicans do is wrong. The tiny part of my brain dedicated to logic and rational thinking knows this can’t possibly be true.
Earmark some money every year to give to progressive political causes. There are a lot to choose from. I’ll have to do some more research on this but the ACLU is at the top of the list at the moment.
Vote in every single election I’m already pretty good about this but often, in the local elections, I don’t vote for candidates for school board superintendent or whatever. Also I need to figure out my positions on local initiatives.
Find a consistent ongoing volunteer opportunity I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I used to consider my old therapy gig as my volunteer service, but that was like two years ago and I haven’t participated in anything outside of my own little world, which is really shameful to me now that I think about it. I’m interested in Habitat for Humanity right now, among others. What I’d really like is to get a group of friends together and commit to a bi-weekly or even monthly volunteer outing together. That sounds like fun, as well as a way to enact my political and moral beliefs.
As I read over this, I notice that none of this is really earth-shaking (I mean, writing an email to a member of Congress? Be still my heart).Still, I’ve spent a lot of time this past couple of months (and to a certain extent, over the past couple of years) being indiscriminately outraged, but I haven’t done much with it, but I have to start somewhere. I’ll be looking for ways to do more, regardless of who wins next week. And let me know what your own election promises are, as well.Y’all keep me honest, okay?