Over the past few years I have read a great deal about political issues, but haven't written much about them. I like the idea of making public my perspectives on issues, as they might help others see something from an angle they didn't already see. I know I enjoy reading and hearing the opinions of others, because my individual perspective is rather limited. That's just human nature. So based on that, I can see the benefit of talking about politics: there's a lot to be learned. More recently I have been learning about how my government works on the city, county and state levels (I am in the United States), and the multi-layered facets of the system has turned out to be a lot more complicated than I originally anticipated. When I say complicated, I don't mean difficult to understand. What I mean is that there are a lot of people involved, and a lot of proceedings that must occur for changes to be made in government policy. This is mainly due to what I said in the previous paragraph: the perspective of the individual is rather limited, and so the views of many people are required to get a realistic vision of any given issue. I have come to feel a greater pull toward becoming involved in the politics of my city, if only to learn more about the local issues at hand and become a part of things. So, my questions for the forum are: Are any of you personally involved with politics, on any level? For those of you who are, how did you begin? And what advice might you give someone who is looking to become more involved? Thanks in advance.
Welcome. 1) yes but more on local issues. I am reluctantly on a board for an organization who sometimes works with or against local interests/government. It does a bunch of stuff to help people like standing up a women's shelter and a sexual assault victims' center, community gardens, and the like. For instance, I went out today to talk to someone about donating a vacant lot for a community garden after someone told me he had a lot he was trying to give away in an crappy neighborhood but nobody would take it. He is in, so now I have to take it back to the organization to see if this particular lot is something they are willing to take on right now because it is going to require some work and money to get into garden shape. Volunteerism. That has led to paid work for me in politics which lead to other work for me in politics, but I have given up all but local stuff. All players in DC are insufferable for me these days. You can see if you can do a volunteer internship for your Senator/Congressman in their local office. You can volunteer in community organizations that achieve the ends that you want achieved (i.e. helping the poor, building houses, etc.) My state and local government has positions that are strictly volunteer on various boards like the Aviation Board, etc. Keep an eye out for vacancies and apply when one opens up. There are some local boards that they have trouble finding replacements for once someone leaves because most people don't know/care about them, but you might.
