Organizing in the Face of All of It
This is less of a blog post and more of an intention. A plan. Something to put out into the world to encourage myself to take action.
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling deeply powerless in the face of the world. Every day brings some new violation, some new terror. If people are not being snatched off the streets in Minneapolis then girls schools are being bombed in Iran. Institutions are crumbling, people have it out for each other, and nobody is _doing anything._
So the question naturally follows: what am I doing? Truthfully: not much. I am raising my kids, keeping the roof over their head and their bellies full. I try to be a stabilizing force for them, my wife, my parents. These are good things but they are necessarily small. The way they change the world is slight, local, and feels like it could be wiped away by the latest turn of geopolitics or macroeconomics.
I want to do more. I want to be part of the solution. If nothing else maybe this powerless feeling will go away. I’ll be able to look myself in the mirror, and my sons in their eyes, and say I tried.
So what have I done? I've reached out to my local Democratic party committee and the local chapter of the Young Democrats. Say what you will about the Democrats, but if there is one party that can be dragged back to worrying about common people, it has to be that one. It has to be!
More posts to come about the results of those first, small steps. I certainly don't know how this is going to go or what difference I can make. I just know that I have to try.