I want Americans to develop a backbone, to fight for themselves. Are you voting for the first time or the first time in years? Well let me tell you it doesn't stop at the voting booth. You need to be an informed voter. Follow the issues, know your candidates for every office you cast a vote for.
Engage in democracy, this great gift from our forebears and activists who have expanded the franchise to women and blacks.
Attend city council meetings and meetings of the Board of Supervisors for your county. At least 2-3X a year to stay informed and get to know their character, but especially when they are deciding on issues that you care about.
Find out their hidden agendas and who their corporate backers are. Call them out on conflicts of interest. Fight for open meetings, and make it known when decisions are being made in secret.
Strategize to block developers when their plans go against the public interests. Fight for common space, better wages and working conditions, equality for everyone, and a strong social net for those who get sick or need more help than they are getting.
Above all, ask good questions.
Write letters to the editor for your local newspaper. And if you're not sure about what's happening, raise questions, pointed questions. At least voice your views on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and any social media you are active in.
Demand the truth, and when you are blessed enough to read it, support those journalists like Julian Assange who put themselves on the line to tell it. Understand that there is disinformation spread about everyone who stands up to the powerful.
Become a warrior for freedom, and support a free press (not the corporate media who manipulate what you think). Think for yourself. Most of us have access to the Internet, even if we go to the library or an Internet cafe. Speak out. Speak up.
Your voice matters. You are important. Don't let anyone convince you otherwise, that your vote doesn't count, that your opinion doesn't matter, that nobody wants to hear what you have to say.
Use your good mind and free will. If you've become lazy about all this or indifferent, it doesn't matter. You have been disenfranchised. You have become a pawn if you just go along to get along. Just get started and build some muscles. It's like going to the gym.
We need fit and healthy citizens, people who put everything they've got into making this work, heart, body, mind and soul. Put yourself on the line. Make a difference.
Take care of yourself and your family because politics is the realm of the possible. If you take yourself out of that realm, then you may have to live with what may seem like increasingly impossible circumstances.
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