Unhappy with the state of the world? What are we doing about it?

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Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,658
edited December 2019 in A Moving Train
With the myriad tragic events going on in the news it's natural to want to talk about things and even a little useful to read up on what's going on, enter into discussion, vent, ponder and maybe even pontificate a bit if that helps. But talking is just the beginning. Doing, taking action, being proactive- that's what makes change happen. Write letters or make phone calls to people in higher position- these are much more effective than the 30 second on-line petitions we all sign (yes, I do sign then too). Form action groups in your community to address local issues. Vote (another very minor act, but if you vote by mail it costs you a stamp and a little reading time). Organize rallies. Attend rallies. Educate and be educated. Participate in county and and school board meetings (remember when most parents attended PTA meetings? Oh wait, that's right, I'm an old fucker, hahaha!) Sign petitions in pen, in person. Circulate and explain petitions. Tithe to environmental and political organizations that are action-oriented (like Sea Shepherds, for example). Reduce consumption of resources and energy even more that ever. Be kind and considerate. Compost and recycle. Grow something that feeds and promotes health. Share and give.

Get off the couch and the computer and get involved. And seriously, I'm not just spouting shit, I've done most of the above and more (and I only say that as a matter-of-fact, not for kudos). We have no right to complain about things and certainly no right to put others down if we are not actually doing something other than just talk, talk, talk.
"It's a sad and beautiful world"
-Roberto Benigni











Post edited by brianlux on

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  • Posts: 21,037
    I wrote two letters to my MP last week. Unfortunately he's a complete dick, who posts articles from Israelifrontline.com on his Facebook page, and regards any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic.

    Think I'll send those two letters to my European representative instead.
  • Posts: 21,037
    edited July 2014
    Actually, thanks for prompting me to re-send those letters, as I didn't realize I had five representatives in the European Parliament.

    And i just sent them to five members of the House of Lords too.
    Post edited by Byrnzie on
  • Posts: 6,801
    Or just keep voting out incumbents until getting re-elected is no longer a possibility and the politicians can focus on actually dong something.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    I wrote 0 letters to my congressmen in the first 30 years of my life. in the past 6 years, I have wrote over 25 letters to my congressmen and senators. It feels good knowing I've tried to express my views to the powers that be. At the same time, it sucks knowing they don't read what I write and send back form letters expressing the exact opposite of my opinions.
  • Posts: 10,255
    edited July 2014
    Last-12-Exit said:

    I wrote 0 letters to my congressmen in the first 30 years of my life. in the past 6 years, I have wrote over 25 letters to my congressmen and senators. It feels good knowing I've tried to express my views to the powers that be. At the same time, it sucks knowing they don't read what I write and send back form letters expressing the exact opposite of my opinions.

    I know what u mean last12. Sometimes it feels like nothing we do can ever help. They got a stranglehold on us and we can't seem to break free from them or it. Fucken shame our government went "a government FOR the people, by (buy) the people (of congress)."
  • Posts: 21,037
    Last-12-Exit said:

    I wrote 0 letters to my congressmen in the first 30 years of my life. in the past 6 years, I have wrote over 25 letters to my congressmen and senators. It feels good knowing I've tried to express my views to the powers that be. At the same time, it sucks knowing they don't read what I write and send back form letters expressing the exact opposite of my opinions.

    Last year I wrote a letter to my MP about the situation in Tibet. Not only did he respond, but I also received a long letter from a Minister of State in the House of Commons. It looked like they actually took what I said seriously, and he promised to do what he could at the next meeting of the European Union.

    Shame they don't exhibit the same level of interest and concern for the plight of the Palestinians.
  • Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,658
    Last-12-Exit said:

    I wrote 0 letters to my congressmen in the first 30 years of my life. in the past 6 years, I have wrote over 25 letters to my congressmen and senators. It feels good knowing I've tried to express my views to the powers that be. At the same time, it sucks knowing they don't read what I write and send back form letters expressing the exact opposite of my opinions.

    Getting no response or just a form letter- that's terribly frustrating. Good effort on your part though!

    One of the first letters I wrote was to CA Senator Alan Cranston. Senator Cranston wrote back to me a full two page letter with detailed, personal answers to my concerns. With our ever-growing numbers and the tangle of bureaucracy our representatives have to deal with (and create) we can't expect that kind of detailed response but surely we should expect something of more substance.

    Phone calls are sometimes more effective unless all you get is an answering machine.

    We also would do well to remember that we are also capable of doing things to make a difference, not just asking our representatives to act. For example, locally most people I've talked to are not in favor of having an historical monument torn down and replaced with a roundabout. If all these people showed up at a city hall meeting and said, "No, we don't want to spend our tax dollars on this unnecessary roundabout", the issue would be more likely to go away.

    The sky's the limit as to what we can do. I wish I could say I'm brave enough to do something like Tank Man did on June 5, 1989 in Tiananmen Square, but there are many things each of us can do.

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni











  • up my ass Posts: 21,157
    edited July 2014
    i've called my senator twice in the last year. he knew my dad from working together years ago & he was pleased to hear from me. im also a friend of a guy who is a friend of the senator's & we speak about things. letters & calls are both a good idea.
    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."
    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,658
    chadwick said:

    i've called my senator twice in the last year. he knew my dad from working together years ago & he was pleased to hear from me. im also a friend of a guy who is a friend of the senator's & we speak about things. letters & calls are both a good idea.

    Good show, Chadwick!

    :-bd
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni











  • Posts: 24,524
    Thankfully, I don't recall anyone here advocating doing nothing. We all try in our ways, even the tiny and non-grandiose. Makes a difference if not in the immediate, perhaps in the long-term.

    It's great if a connection/relationship is there to help open the doors of perception and honest feedback from those we've elected. Too bad most of us get a boilerplate response as mentioned by LastExit.
  • Charleston, SC Posts: 8,661
    I've sent 5 or 6 letters to Lindsay Graham and got back a form letter (email) every time. I guess it's better than the 1 response (form letter) out of 6 emails to Tim Scott. I realize these guys get many calls and emails every day. But I expect to get more than just a fuckin form letter back when I take the time to write these guys. I wonder if I sent a letter of support if I would get back something different.
  • I stopped by on March 7 2024. First time in many years, had to update payment info. Hope all is well. Politicians suck. Bye. Posts: 9,487
    Send a check instead.
  • Posts: 5,697
    unsung said:

    Send a check instead.

    Send enough and you'll get a call and letters multiple times a year.
  • \m/deplorable af \m/ Posts: 2,431
    The political class is the problem and the people who keep voting for the political class.

    Not liberals
    Not conservatives
    Not republicans
    Not democrats

    The political class is now the oligarchy.
    live and let live...unless it violates the pearligious doctrine.
  • Posts: 353
    edited August 2014
    Great post! =D>

    May I add one more suggestion? Courtesy of Joe Strummer (may he RIP). Vote your dollars. So many campaigns are won by the deepest pockets, and sometime (eg when you are a relative liberal living in Texas) it seems your vote doesn't count much. But every dollar you spend can reflect your values. Support companies who align with your values, whatever those are. Personally I support companies that are good to their employees, the environment, and to animals whenever I can.

    I also spend a lot of time writing letters to my reps, a little time making phone calls, and some time signing petitions, fwiw. I also occasionally go to a protest
    Post edited by grooveme on
  • Posts: 353
    Here's the JS quote from 1999, since he is far more eloquent than me:

    "OK, here's my new manifesto. I'm gonna pull out of my pocket one vote. (takes out a dollar). 'He's gotta dollar bill out of his pocket!' What I like to say to anyone who could care to listen to me is that this is our only vote. I'm saying that because we got democrat votes and we voted in this guy two years ago (Tony Blair) and he's become... what he was not supposed to be. We can't get rid of him. Maybe we got a fifteen year run with this guy. What can we do? Fold our tents on the field. We'll lose the battle but not the war.

    So it occured to me that since my real vote is useless, null and void, therefore we ain't gonna start runnin' down the street burnin' and a-lootin' either 'cause our ass is gonna get canned. So that leaves the only vote anybody's got, this dollar bill. All I'm trying to say is, when I wanna buy a record, I'm gonna take my dollar bill and go to some corner guy with his weird, kooky little shop. I'm not giving this to Virgin Megastore. The same when I'm going to buy some clothes- I ain't gonna go to Gap no more. I wanna go to Ditsy Louie's Junk Clothing Box. I'm using my vote here, this dollar bill is my vote. I'm not gonna go to a fast food joint. I'm going to go to a place where people own it, where the owner is standing behind the bar, picking his teeth.

    This is my new philosophy. Use your vote, your dollar bill is your vote. It's time we stopped giving it in the bucket-loads to these giants corporations. They're not to be trusted with that amount of money. They're only gonna bland us out, robot us out. They're gonna crush us and pulverize us. All they want is our money. They'd rather that we just sat on the pavement, saying nothing and giving them dollar bills. That's what they want to world to be while they have their cocaine and champagne. The dollar bill is your only vote. That's my new vibe"

    Supporting your local business men and women is another way to reduce control by the big businesses, and I also try to support mine when we eat and shop
  • Posts: 9,617
    I did this last Thursday...
    Print a photo or collage of photos of dead Palestinian children at the hands of Israel with US support/weapons, try to track down your Representative, you can call their office or go online to their website for their itinerary. IF you can find them, bring a sharpie, make small talk and then ask for their autograph with the picture turned upside down, hand them the sharpie then flip the picture over of the dead babies.... describe the photo and ask why they wont sign it?? ask why they will sign resolution condemning hamas but not sign the photo? Ask who has like more civilians hamas or Israel?
  • Posts: 21,037
    grooveme said:

    Great post! =D>

    May I add one more suggestion? Courtesy of Joe Strummer (may he RIP). Vote your dollars. So many campaigns are won by the deepest pockets, and sometime (eg when you are a relative liberal living in Texas) it seems your vote doesn't count much. But every dollar you spend can reflect your values. Support companies who align with your values, whatever those are. Personally I support companies that are good to their employees, the environment, and to animals whenever I can.

    I also spend a lot of time writing letters to my reps, a little time making phone calls, and some time signing petitions, fwiw. I also occasionally go to a protest

    Hear, hear!

  • Posts: 6,388
    edited August 2014
    Money rules. You can fight it but politicians and corporations don't give a shit you or what you have to say. Just enjoy life. We have it freakin made in US.
    Post edited by callen on
    10-18-2000 Houston, 04-06-2003 Houston, 6-25-2003 Toronto, 10-8-2004 Kissimmee, 9-4-2005 Calgary, 12-3-05 Sao Paulo, 7-2-2006 Denver, 7-22-06 Gorge, 7-23-2006 Gorge, 9-13-2006 Bern, 6-22-2008 DC, 6-24-2008 MSG, 6-25-2008 MSG
  • Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,658
    grooveme said:

    Great post! =D>

    May I add one more suggestion? Courtesy of Joe Strummer (may he RIP). Vote your dollars. So many campaigns are won by the deepest pockets, and sometime (eg when you are a relative liberal living in Texas) it seems your vote doesn't count much. But every dollar you spend can reflect your values. Support companies who align with your values, whatever those are. Personally I support companies that are good to their employees, the environment, and to animals whenever I can.

    I also spend a lot of time writing letters to my reps, a little time making phone calls, and some time signing petitions, fwiw. I also occasionally go to a protest

    Great idea! I have to admit to having spent money on a computer, gasoline, some stereo components and a car (which I plan on getting at least 300,000 miles on and it gets 44-45 MPG- probably my last car) and I know in general there aren't socially or environmentally conscious manufacturers for these things but other than that I can't think of anything we spend money on that comes from major slave companies/environment killing corporations. Our paper products are from recycled sources, our food is local farmer's markets, a local family market and food co-op, and we buy used items from thrift stores. The other thing I try to determine if I need a tool or cook wear or something like that is "How durable is it?" The more durable, the longer lasting, the fewer I will need to purchase. Durable, well made items do cost more up front but almost always cost less in the long run because they don't need to be replaced as frequently. For example, I have a thermal vest made by Patagonia- a wonderfully environmentally/socially conscious company- that was a bit pricey but I doubt I will ever wear it out and if I do manage to live to be 110 and wear it out, Patagonia wants me to sent it back to them to recycle it. Very cool!

    (And just in case you're wondering, we make less than the national average income. Good budgeting and wise spending make these things possible.)

    Nice nod to the great Joe Strummer, by the way!

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni











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