Feeling politically downtrodden? Engage, don’t rant

3 ways to respond when you need to speak truth to power but don’t know how

If you’re anything like me, as the Ford-Kavanaugh hearing unfolded last week into a “grotesque display of patriarchal resentment,” as The New Yorker put it, you may have felt like you, and every other non-white, male individual in the United States, had yet again been slapped across the face. It’s unfortunately become a familiar feeling.

If you fall into this camp and like me are hurt, angry, and let down, then I understand and appreciate your rage- and sorrow-filled Facebook posts. Social media is a fantastic resource for sharing opinions, engaging in thoughtful debate and conversation, and building a community around shared beliefs.

However, if your only action thus far in response to your politically-fueled disenchantment and anger is to vent on social media, I implore you to ask yourself, “is that really all I’ve got?” If you’re as angry as you say you are, I’m assuming and hoping the answer is no.

I wish I could offer you “three easy ways to change our political system,” but I’m no magician, and President Theodore Roosevelt (although of course flawed in his own way as every U.S. leader and human is) said famously, “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

Therefore, I instead offer you three suggestions as to how you can turn your social media rant into action, put your figurative money and literal time and effort where your mouth is, and join those who have spent the last 200 years refusing to shut up when silenced by those in power.  

Become informed.

The best precursor to taking to action is becoming informed about the political happenings of our country. Keeping up with President Donald Trump’s Twitter account seems to be a Herculean task, so I’d encourage you to get your political news from a more curated, and more accurate, source. If you’d like to receive daily highlights in your inbox, take a look at theSkimm or What the Fuck Just Happened Today. If you’re more of a podcast- or radio-listener, check out Up First by NPR or The Daily by The New York Times, which offer a 10-15 or 20-25 minute, respectively, highlight reel of the day’s events. I’d also encourage you to sign up for a newsletter from your local news source, as local news is almost always left out of national coverage.

Register to vote (and actually vote).

Need help registering to vote or remembering to actually get out and vote? Check out TurboVote. Through this easy-to-use website you can find out if you’re registered to vote where you currently live, register by mail or online if your state offers it, and set up reminders for the next election in your state. It’ll also tell you about registration deadlines and where to vote. By ensuring you, your friends, and your family vote this election season, you can be one vote amongst a collective voice that refuses to accept the status quo and demands better of our leaders. One vote may feel small, but as American anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Speak out (especially locally).

As a citizen of this country and a resident of your state, you deserve to have your opinion heard. Ensuring it’s heard starts with your smart phone. I’d encourage you to call your legislators, as it’s said to be the most effective form of outreach,but if you’re unable to call, an email works, too. Check out GovTrack.us to find out who your senators and representatives are and how to contact them. When you call or email, follow this script from Call the Halls by Emily Ellsworth (which you can download for even more information on voicing your political opinion):

1. Identify your name and city.
2. State your specific call to action and pose your question to the staffer.
3. Wait for a response from the staffer.
4. Tell your personal story about why this particular call to action matters to you.
5. Ask for your opinion to be recorded and end the call.

If you hate making phone calls as much as I do or feel overwhelmed by the number of shouting voices at the national level, you may be better off starting with voicing your opinion locally in your city, county, or state. You can likely find your local government officials’ names and contact information through a quick Google search, and now that you’re informed about local matters from that newsletter you signed up for earlier, you can follow the same script listed above to reach out to your local officials about issues important to you in your city or state.

I’m with you, so join me

Before you move on to the next post telling you how to engage politically, I wanted to assure you I recognize that I, too, need to do better. I’d like to own up to the fact that at times I am complacent, preferring to be sullen than outspoken. I listen to the news, wanting to simultaneously punch someone and cry, but I then let the audacity that is our country’s political climate become the norm and move on to the next topic. Therefore, I challenge both you and myself to fight that norm and speak out against what we know is wrong, whether it be with our knowledge, votes, or words. Our individual and collective voice deserves to be heard and I believe that we can make it so.