wildernesse

Sorry, too idealistic to think you live in reality.

If you don't like the candidates, become one or rustle someone up. Aim for county commissioner or whatever. Write a letter to the newspaper. Call in to talk radio--even the dumb shows.

Maybe living in a rural area, where the people who run things are your neighbors and know where you stand and who you'll vote for has spoiled me. My parents talk to their representative (local, state and federal) all the time--they are also members of large lobbying groups and have held leadership positions in local parts of these lobbying groups. My mother is the executive of a school system--an important goverment job. With their civic example, I find it very hard to see how their actions are not influencing the world they live in--and it is reflected in the taxes, education, and industry interest in their locality. They're also conservatives.

Are they members of wealthy families or part of large corporations? No, they're just involved and involvement is more than voting.

I moved from that rural environment to a town with a very active grassroots political structure--and everyday individuals make a difference in the governing here too. It's not high-profile and not glamourous work, but it is important and shapes the way I live.

People who disagree with me are the majority, and they shape the way I live. If I don't like it, then I should be a thorn in their side--and I am. Most of them aren't tough enough not to treat their wound once in a while.

--tibac

brighid

I agree that voting is the answer, but that requires some committment. If you maintain the attitude that nothing is ever going to change ... well you have created a self-fulfilling prophecy and it sure as shit won't.

If all the 18-29 year old people being fucked over by the system got out and voted - or made some damned noise instead of rolling over and playing dead - I am pretty such that they could make a positive effect on the system.

If you lost your job, your funding, etc. and don't get out and vote in the next election you shouldn't even complain about the state of things. Voter apathy is what the fucknuts in the White House are counting on. They don't want you to vote. They don't want you to have a voice and they are pretty sure that segment of society will remain complacent.

Yeah, most of the candidates suck but I am sure to write all of my local, state and federally elected representatives on a regular basis letting them know how I feel. My husband even got a letter published on a congressional site. You might not be able to change things today, and the federal level might suck but start off in your community. You CAN make a difference there.

Brighid

Ultimate Atheist

Both of you have good points when it comes to the local level, especially when we're talking about rural areas. Its much easier to influence things locally. I wasn't talking about local politics though. Its the morons at the federal level that are really hurting this country. They're the ones bullying other countries and making us look bad. When other countries band together and start lobbing nuclear warheads at us it wont matter how great your local government is.

The Stranger

Yea. I'd imagine it sucks bad losing your job like that. But is it the government's fault or your fault for making certain career choices? You didn't make choices that enabled you to provide the needed goods and services to the right people; thus you are out of a job.

Suck it up dude. Make your own life.

Ultimate Atheist

Oh that's B.S. You can't tell the guy he didn't make the right career choices. Not everyone is born into a family with enough money to make career choices. Some people have to take what they can get and struggle to do much else. I'm sure those guys have things that they would much rather be doing for a living but not everyone gets to choose and do what they want. I hope you got the job you wanted and are happy but the whole world doesn't operate that way. Some people don't have the privilege of making "career choices".

PalestineChic19

At least you don't live in Florida! we have a BUSH for a governor. I'm an immigrant to the US (from Saudi Arabia) I came here in 1992 with my family, and i can tell you things have been getting steadily worse in this country (Especially since 2000!!) .I think I never would have come here in the first place if I had done more research. I'm thinking that once I get out of Med school, I'm going to move to canada for good. I hate it here too. but i'll just have to stick it out in this republican hell hole for a few more years.

-Samirah

4th Generation Atheist

Funny how many people asked if I live in Minnesota. I grew up there and moved to the Washington DC area for grad school back in '95. Currently I have a job, not the best but better than some others I've had, and not in any immediate danger (Xsing my fingers).

All three of the people mentioned in the OP (myself and the two friends) voted in all the recent elections, and for the Dem candidates. Doesn't seem to have done much but all three of us are of the "civic duty" mindset, so you can expect a repeat performance at the next opportunity.

Bushie likes to accuse others of "class warfare". His liberal critics like to accuse him of class warfare also, of the rich against the poor. My observation agrees with the liberal critics somewhat: I see Bush as engaing in class warfare also, but not against the poor. He likes and needs the poor---they tend to be good Xns of the desperate type, will willingly join the Army if he needs them to, will take all the butt-sucking jobs you normally have to pay illegal immigrants to do, &c. No, he's not against the poor. His target is the middle class.

Never mind that the middle class is by all accounts the most productive sector of society, to the point that anthropologists and archeologists look for signs of a large middle class to help guage a society's levels of advancement and prosperity. Never mind that the goods and services provided by an ambitious, forward-thinking and optimistic middle class lead to a strong trade position. Never mind that when you see "growth" it is the middle class, through earning, spending and circulating the money, that is usually reponsible for it. Never mind that it is the middle class that values education the most strongly, which is what eventually determines who is going to be a world leader. Never mind that his own damn rhetoric praises the middle class, in the form of strong families and small businesses, to the near exclusion of all else---but of course, we know the rhetoric is a damned lie, so I suppose that last point doesn't mean much. No. Bush favors the latest looney batch of economists whose theories are that a strong level of inequality---read a few rich, many poor and almost no middle---is the best for "growth". Yeah, "growth" in a few people's coffers, but not once one looks past the most superficial level. What do we expect from a man whose most advanced concept of statesmanship involves getting the posse together.:banghead:

See, a strong middle class also means more chattering eggheads (who tend to be liberal), more noisy Internet geeks (like us), more educated people (correlates with atheism), more freedom-lovers who actually have the wherewhithal to back up that philosophy. A strong middle class isn't good for dictators, police states or theocrats. He is engaging in class warfare---with the middle class, the poor being part of the prize. Not exactly the Marxist analysis of the situation; this middle class is one of the groups Marxists like to deride, IIRC. But there's definitely class war going on. Just not the one everyone seems to be looking for.

Autonemesis

That was Brian Springer's SPIN and I forget who the candidate was..... but.... yeah.

The Other Michael

It must be your accent that tipped them off.

cheers,
Michael

wildernesse

I beg to differ. Federal is the most prominent because of the national media, but in day to day quality of life local (including state) government is more important.

Where do you think Representatives spring from? Into the House, fully formed as if they were always Congresspeople? No, most start out on the local level. Most people start out local, and if you're not involved there you're really just not involved. People at the local level do a great deal of the work getting the feds elected. People at the local level educate the next generation of citizens, provide for most law enforcement, and create economic stimulus. If you want to work on the world, start at home.

The feds aren't just making stuff up as they go along--there are people who support them at all levels of the government. Just because you personally disagree, or are not benefitted from the current state of affairs, sadly doesn't mean that a large section of the population isn't happy with the way things are.

I'm sorry about people who lost their (STATE) funding--it sucks, but that is the lot of life. My mother has had to deal with this as well, and has in the past. No one wants to raise taxes, but everyone wants a job, Ph.D. , insurance, and a perfect society. My parents would say that those who deserve those things get them--but I'm too idealistic for that yet.

--tibac