How I Learned to Become an Engaged Citizen
May 11 — Karen Skelton
Last week I found a journal from 2017. I had not kept a journal before – or since! – but that was the year a real estate mogul/reality TV show host was elected president on a platform of populism and demagoguery. I couldn’t sit idly on the sidelines, wringing my hands in helplessness while our democratic ideals were desecrated and institutions dismantled. I set my intention for 2017: “To be a more engaged citizen.” But how? Enter Indivisible, the movement that started as a document (updated version).
A group of Congressional staffers watched the Tea Party form to oppose the Obama presidency. They documented how the many small, local groups organized and took action – and became a national force greater than the sum of its parts. The co-founders of the movement called Indivisible are Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg. They released this “how-to manual” in January 2017, and local groups began springing up all across the country, creating a whole new cadre of activists. I was one of them: I attended the first meeting of my local chapter five years ago this week.
What have I learned from these past five years volunteering with Indivisible?
To really pay attention to political news, especially through long-form journalism. Because I can’t be an engaged citizen if I’m not an informed one.
To get involved / support the good work of others / take initiative of my own / stop waiting for someone else to show up.
To stand against injustice. So much progress was made over the past 60 years, but now we see regression and a repeal of rights that others fought so hard for: the proverbial two steps forward, three steps back. We must strive for equal justice, always, lest it be stripped away again.
To pay as much attention to local issues and candidates as we do the national. I know who my reps are for county commissioner, school board, city council, state delegate, even our Soil & Water District Supervisor (I’m looking at you, Antoinette Weaver!) I attend Town Halls and School Board meetings, and feel more vested in my community as a result.
That stepping outside my comfort zone is, obviously, uncomfortable. But stretching that zone to do things like phone banking and canvassing results in feelings of accomplishment along with the increase in voter turnout. And once stretched, those actions are no longer outside the comfort zone – win-win!
So today, I renew my commitment to being an engaged citizen, and I invite you to join me. Because fighting for democracy and social justice is important and necessary work; but what sustains that work is doing it with the friends we make along the way.