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I have already written my Democratic Congressman, but I'm looking for more to do to get involved in my lovely Rust Belt state (Ohio). In fact one of the things I asked him is what specifically I can do to get involved since "get involved" is always the extent of what people say. Any other Ohio goons (especially NE Ohio), I'm all ears if you've got ideas or need an ally.
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Nov 15, 2016 00:08
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Pollyanna posted:I've considered crashing Democrat town halls and meetings and the like and speaking up, but I don't feel like I'd be listened to or really, get anything but laughed at and escorted out. Is it still worth trying to speak up at Dem meetings, or is it more effective to ignore that party? I got my first taste of actually affecting grass roots level change in my own community about two years ago. There was an issue on the ballot in just my individual precinct of my township to allow alcohol sales at the corner gas station right near my house. Now, the corner gas station was small (the inside convenience store was 800 square feet) and pretty dilapidated. As such, of course, less than desirable looking people hung out there and a lot of (white) people avoided going there if they could. So anyways, I get a letter in my mail box from the company that owns the gas station, it has plans and renderings of what the new gas station will look like. Basically, they were investing about a million dollars into it by tearing down the old gas station and rebuilding a brand new beautiful 2400 sq ft convenience store with state of the art HD security cameras in the parking lot and led lighting. The catch was, they couldn't justify the investment unless alcohol sales were part of the new business plan. The letter mentioned a community meeting to discuss the potential approval of the ballot measure. So I went. What I found was a lot of old, scared white people that were afraid that their (in their eyes) already-worsening neighborhood would get even worse by introducing alcohol into our then-dry precinct. I stood up and made the argument that they're all complaining that things are bad now and that the only way things will get better would be to change (I believe I actually repeated several times "If nothing changes, nothing will change"). I also pointed out how ridiculous it was to tell a company that wants to inject a million dollars into your neighborhood that their money isn't welcome. After the meeting I had no less than 5 people come up to me and thank me for coming and say that I changed their mind on the issue. Now if those 5 people and their spouses voted yes, then I alone caused the measure to pass, since it won by 19 votes. THAT is the power of democracy! Keep in mind that any town hall you go to is likely to be an echo chamber filled with a bunch of old people that have nothing better to do. If you're young (young in this instance being under 50), and I assume most of you are, then you will have a unique voice. And though there may be some strong vocal opposition, keep in mind that the silent people are there listening and CAN be swayed by your point of view. (In my example, the people that came up to me afterwards hadn't said a word the entire meeting) So, I hope this gives you guys confidence going into any meetings or town halls because I had no idea what to expect going into mine and I ended up being the most compelling voice there.
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Nov 17, 2016 17:37
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Captain Fargle posted:What advice do you folks have with regards to learning public speaking and so forth? Classes seem like they'd be something I can't really afford. Confidence is key. Community theater is a great way to shed a lot of self-consciousness and stage fright. But I also find that if you really formulate the things you want to say, and even play devil's advocate with yourself to better formulate your ideas, the end result is much better as a result. I gave the Best Man toast at two weddings, both times I had people tell me it was the best they ever heard, and neither time did I write a single thing down. What I did do is practice what I wanted to say every day in the car on the way to and from work.
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Nov 18, 2016 18:27
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