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Any advice for next election cycle?


tantric superman

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I've never been very involved in politics, but got a bit more this cycle.  I'm bummed in general at the Republicans failure to criticize the ugliness of this President and his folks, and that's depressing, but overall I feel good about the election personally.   I recommend next time this comes around:

1) If your State Rep or Senator is in play, and there is a chance a really shitty one may stay in office, think about learning about those candidate and then volunteering.  The Rep one will be pretty local, and the folks volunteering will be your neighbors.  With the stake in public education, the state reps are pretty important.  Will also educate you on state government and state villains -- I have a lot to learn.

2) I enjoyed the little canvasing I did.  Got to get out and get some exercise, and your provide your candidate with some intelligence on how people are going to vote/voted.   Seems real and was satisfying.  Now, all three of the folks I was opposing were Trump apologists, so it helps if you are fighting the good fight.  

3) When I did the day of poll greeter, I met a guy from the opposition who was a really nice guy.  (young ex-army guy).  We didn't argue or talk politics, we both just enjoyed the weather and welcoming and then thanking each other for voting.  The point is that you are out meeting people in the flesh and you have to behave like humans and you do, unlike on the web. 

So bottom line, I spent maybe $120 bucks in donations, total, spent maybe 24 hours total doing volunteer work, spent about 12 hours writing and researching bad blog entries, and probably feel good because the three candidates I actually did some work for all won. 

So next time, take a break from the internets, give some spare cash, and show up at headquarters and do some texting, calling or canvassing for one race you care about.  It'll make you feel good about doing a bit more than just voting and it will get you in touch with people, including the opposition.

Edited by tantric superman
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Think global, act local. It's a tired phrase but it's real.

Aside from shitposting here, pretty much all my wife and I's political time and money went to Lizzie Fletcher (and I threw a chunk to Heidi Heitkamp). As mentioned above, local races are the ones you can win and the ones where you can see the impact of your volunteering. One thing I'm excited about is the Sri campaign folks down in Brazoria building a Dem infrastructure there.

I mean, one day, inshallah, we'll have DSA HQ next to the baseball fields, but Dem inroads are a good start.

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Oh, on the Daily Podcast, some other good advice -- use Trump hate as energy, but pick a specific issue to focus and campaign on. 

For me in this election it was public education.  I didn't want Lisa Luby Ryan to win because she was a religious wackjob.  But the message (true) was that she just didn't seem to care about public education. 

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10 minutes ago, tantric superman said:

Oh, on the Daily Podcast, some other good advice -- use Trump hate as energy, but pick a specific issue to focus and campaign on. 

For me in this election it was public education.  I didn't want Lisa Luby Ryan to win because she was a religious wackjob.  But the message (true) was that she just didn't seem to care about public education. 

50 state strategy - 435 district strategy - whatever you want to call it, you use public dissatisfaction and channel it into specific local issues.

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