What can citizens do to bring about a change? First, we can recognize that neoliberals, neocons, and neofascists are people just like everyone else, and that they can be influenced by other people. We should proceed to work on bringing about the change we want to see. If we want to address the electoral system, we can work for representation by citizens instead of by professional politicians. For example, we could work for public funding for all elections, for setting term limits, and for ending undemocratic practices like voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the use of proprietary voting machines that cannot be audited. Another thing anyone can do is work for whatever stirs our passions, whether it's politics, children, animals, corporate accountability, food safety, income inequality, campaign finance reform, or the environment. We can use whatever skills we have in the service of our cause, whether it's fundraising, graphic design, writing, community organizing, filmmaking, counseling, teaching, gardening, caring for animals, children, or the elderly, knitting, baking, or just giving money.
While some people will want to work on their own or start their own organization, most people will probably want to join an ongoing effort. One way to do that would be to notice the emails you get from organizations asking you to sign petitions or donate. If you are interested in a particular organization, you can go to their website and find out whether they are asking for volunteers, and see how you might fit in. If you have questions, you can contact them. If you have no idea what you might want to do, you can go to a website like Volunteermatch.org and see what the opportunities are in your local area. You can try different things until you hit one that feels right.
Whatever we do has a ripple effect that may do more good than we imagine. In his book The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell explains how remarkably few people it can take to instigate what eventually becomes a widespread cultural shift. Our job is not to predict outcomes; our job is to do what we can with what we have.
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