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A year or two ago I was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and in one particular episode he said something that resonated with me a little bit. The clip was about how the Texas State School Board voted unanimously to alter textbooks so that science would take a backseat to religion or something like that. I could easily be misremembering details, though. When the crowd boo'd the news of this, he quickly reigned the crowd back in to shut them up by yelling, quote:Well then get your asses on the Board of Education! Ever since then, I've sometimes been reminded about the many news stories of corruption (in terms of current events, a Mayor in North Carolina) , hypocrisy (that State Senator in California), complete bullshit (the protests in Albaquerque), et cetera... and I've just thought to myself: why aren't people who are sane and/or not sociopaths in elected office? Soon after, in what Michael E. Gerber would call an "Entrepreneurial seizure", except political stuff instead of business stuff, I get the crazy idea that maybe if I were to try and become a Mayor, Superintendent, or State Legislator then maybe I could help things not suck so much or at least help prevent stupid poo poo that I see in the news all the time from happening. It's easy to feel like it's not possible to make a mark or do anything to prevent poo poo like this from happening... which I can kind of understand for higher level government positions... but I think that a more realistic goal of becoming a mayor, a School Board member or Superintendent, State Legislator, or something else of that nature would at least help to make whatever little corner of the world where I'd be just not suck so much. Maybe I'm just naive and need a reality check. I thought I'd post a thread to ask for information about it since the Search function turned up nothing in this part of the goon forums. Just in case I'm not so dumb here, tell me about getting into elected office (though probably not for higher levels of government). I hope that what I said in the title of the thread and what I said in this post aren't too far off from one another. Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Apr 2, 2014 |
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Apr 2, 2014 01:21
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LogisticEarth posted:I mean, yeah you do have a greater chance of fixing stuff if you're in local politics, but you're only fixing local issues. It's worthwhile work, but you're not going to change the world, and it's still going to involve a bunch of bullshit. This is a very good point and tbh I already thought about it. I kind of compare wanting to get into a higher tier of elected office to people who play League of Legends or DotA and dream of being pro. Most people aren't going to make it for whatever reason and so I don't think it'd be worth it to spend my time trying to run for something like Federal Congressman or other top tier office. Sort of like setting your goals lower so that they're more realistic. Besides, even if I were to get to that kind of position, there's still the argument (at least in the USA) that's raged on for centuries about whether the federal government should have more power or whether the individual states should have more power. I would love to do that, of course, but I think maybe if I can at least make whatever town or state I live in a bit more sane then I can at least say that I did my part. Similar to how soldiers go to war, come back, and say that they did their part... except instead of protecting the country it's trying to make it not suck so much. I'm probably just really naive. Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 04:28 on Apr 2, 2014 |
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Apr 2, 2014 04:25
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mune posted:It's not too long before we all use computer games for our 'going pro' analogies instead of Real Sports Kids are growing up, man.. FuturePastNow posted:If you don't hate your state rep or Congressperson, stop by their office 6-9 months before an election and ask about volunteering. Campaigns like free labor and you'll learn all sorts of things. More importantly, you'll meet people who can help you. Yeah, this is a good point and idea. Unfortunately, though, I don't live in the USA right now but your suggestion makes a lot of sense for whenever I return there.
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Jun 2, 2014 06:54
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So after following the latest American elections from living overseas, and from watching the Last Week Tonight bit this past weekend about how almost 1 in 4 state legislators around the country are running unopposed... What books can I read about how to be not terrible at this stuff myself? Given that I'm old enough to run for these offices, what can I do to get more involved in the political process once I return home to the States? I want to be one of those people who can stop people like that guy in New York with the 20-some-odd number of federal indictments and then still won from ever getting on the ballot in the first place. Because I'm starting to feel that from now on that my voting will likely just go for third parties on the federal level and pay more attention to the state level things. Love Stole the Day fucked around with this message at 09:53 on Nov 6, 2014 |
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Nov 6, 2014 09:49
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