HOW TO BE CIVICALLY ENGAGED IN 2024:
Civic engagement is year-round, and not just for elections.
Civic engagement is not just about politics.
What is your day-to-day and what affects your life? The mission of any civic engagement is to strengthen and unite communities. Just one part of that is politics. You can’t empower your community, or strive for equity if your representatives don’t serve your needs and values. If there is discord nationally, look at your community first.
Vote: How? Why?
The number one thing you can do if you do nothing else, no matter how hopeless you feel, it’s no skin off your back: GO VOTE.
Check in 30 seconds if you’re registered: https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
Find out how to register to vote and deadlines in your state and county here: https://www.usa.gov/register-to-vote
VOTING IS CRITICAL. Community Change Action, along with three others reached out to infrequent and never-voters in Michigan, Nevada and Florida. What they found was astonishing:
When you add new voices and change the electorate, you can shift what is politically possible. ..This method of deep organizing blows up business-as-usual electoral politics. It threatens the huge paychecks of political consultants and strategists on both sides of the aisle who parachute into communities for elections.
The progressive political industry spent $5.7 billion on congressional races alone in 2018. Much of that went to the usual Beltway power brokers who focus on tired attack ads or the vote for so-and-so emails.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/09/opinion/voter-turnout-2020.html
“Now is not the time to give up. It’s not the time to be silent. And it’s certainly not the time to quit….we can’t afford your disillusionment, no matter what side of the political aisle you are on….”
Karine Jean-Pierre “How to take action when you’re feeling disillusioned”
DO YOU WANT SOMEONE DECIDING YOUR LIFE? Then, don’t worry if a candidate isn’t all you want. Your vote counts. In the last 12 years, there has been neck-in-neck races at all levels where a few votes decided the outcome. Ask yourself: who is the better candidate, even if it’s by a notch, who will uphold the policies and values that affect your health, children, taxes, and liberties. You just have to vote for the better one.
VOTE AND….[What Can I Do?]
Civic engagement, as Teen Vogue calls it, is VOTE AND…
If nothing feels like it’s changing, then nothing will change if all you’re doing is voting once every four years then complaining the rest of the time how politicians and systems fail you.
If you are disillusioned with how things are, then be a part of the solution.
How to get involved
- Volunteer at your local voting centers. Every state and county has its own sign-up sheets and eligibility requirements. For California residents: Visit pollworker.sos.ca.gov to complete the poll worker application. It only takes 2-3 minutes!
- Make calls for your preferred candidate.
- Canvass
- Write letters
You can be assured that those who are driven by their agendas, will be doing this. Whatever you see now in your community, state and country is because those who were driven, did it.