What to do next: Quick tips for political resistance
“How are you doing?” feels like a loaded question these days, and my typical response is to note that everything I believe in is under attack while democracy and our way of life is falling apart at an accelerating pace, but other than that, I’m good, thanks.
Like many of you, I’ve been thinking about what to do.
I marched with my daughter and 130,000 of our closest friends in Seattle and in tandem with 470,000 people in Washington D.C. and hundreds of thousands more all around the world. So that was cool.
Then people asked, what next?
Let us not get into it with the haters who saw an energized tribe of female activists and said, no way, not the right issues, not the right signs, not enough there (looking at you, David Brooks). What we experienced at the Women’s March was a sense of community, visible evidence that people care — especially a younger generation, and people who had previously kept to the sidelines — and the knowledge that we are not alone. That is life affirming and hopeful and motivating.
So, what next?
Well, I process through writing. It’s where I go when I’m so emotional that nothing else is working and that’s where I am right now. (Hey, how are you? Scared shitless about the world my daughter will inherit and reminiscing about that time our Chinese relatives got locked in Japanese internment camps because nobody could tell the difference, but other than that, things are awesome.) I’m writing, because it’s what I do, and I have some ideas on what other people can do too. Here they are, take them, leave them, make them better, but do something, because now is the time.
At the end of this list is something that might piss you off. But let’s start with the easy stuff.
Viva la Resistance
If you are…
New to all this: Congratulations, you’re in the right place, and you’re doing the right thing. Thank you.
A seasoned political operative, organizer, staffer or activist: Rock on wit’ yo’ bad self and share your wisdom with the world. You know how to do this shit, so help a sister out. Look, you already made the practical guide to the resistance, which absolutely lives up to the name.
A nonprofit employee on a shoestring budget: You’re already fighting the good fight, so here are some poems. Just trust me, you’ll like them.
Rich, well-off or have some money to spare: Give liberally. Consider a monthly recurring donation to your favorite nonprofit and your state democratic party.
Into real facts (not alternatives): Subscribe to and support real journalism. Get a digital subscription to your local newspaper and your favorite one or two national outlets. Give money to NPR and PBS and Pro Publica. Plus Teen Vogue! If you’re one of those snotty types who thinks you’re better than your local newspaper, guess what, you’re not helping and I don’t want to hear it. We need excellent, investigative, dogged and courageous journalism more than ever. Good journalism requires training, experience, dedication and special skills, and real people have to be able to make a living doing it in order to do it really well. Every reporter, no matter the beat, covers politics now. Freedom isn’t free, and neither is good journalism. Pay up, press on.
Technologically masterful: Volunteer your skills to a non-profit to help them do a better job of sharing information, raising money, and keeping people motivated. We’re talking coding, hacking, site building, databases and contact management, UI/UX, app development, anything backend. Or build your own damn site or app, and make it useful for everyone (e.g., Presterity, a crowd-sourced compilation of all the things Trump is doing, or Democracy.io and Countable which make it super easy to contact Congress). If you’re that good at the tech, you probably have some money to donate too.
Fired up and ready to go. Show up in person. Not just at marches and protests, but at the Town Halls held by your state and federal representatives, and at your local democratic party committee meetings. Email Congress using those apps above, but phone calls are better (here’s how to get over your anxiety) and showing up in person is best of all. Know your rights while you do it, and make sure others do too. Sorry to burst your bubble, but online petitions are the least effective tactic. Vote in every single election, even the boring ones, and give money to Political Action Committees and candidates and the Democratic Party.
Ready to get all strategic about states: Check this out. In AZ, CO, GA, ME, MI, MN, NC, NH, NV, PA and VA, your electoral votes were all decided by less than five points. In FL, PA, WI, OH and IA, your state flipped from blue to red in 2016. Bolded states are extra special important because politics. You live in those states — or in any state with Republican U.S. Senators? Fantastic. Get to work. Understand that any influence tactic has to be backed up with an electoral strategy, so give time or money to your state democratic party. Or run for office yourself (yes, you, and we’ll all help). Here’s the deal: Republicans are most vulnerable and Dems are most likely to pick up Congressional seats in the 2018 election, and 2020 is not just the next presidential election but is also the next U.S. Census which will provide the info for congressional redistricting (also known as “gerrymandering,” unless it’s in favor of our side) which is a big fucking deal.
Living in MN, IA, MO, KY, NH: You have the dubious honor of a newly elected trifecta, meaning that the governor and both houses of your state legislature are all Republicans. WTF dude. Give time or money to your state democratic party.
Living in OR, CA, RI, CT: Congratulations, you are the only states with Democratic trifectas. That’s four out of fifty, for those of you keeping score at home (this might be a sign of how in touch D’s are with the people). Lead, don’t secede, and keep your head up.
Well-connected with lots of friends and family in key states (see above): Reach out and encourage them to do all this stuff too. I’m writing from a pretty blue state, which means that my U.S. Senators are already on the side of goodness and light and don’t need extra calls. On the other hand, if your U.S. Senator is a Dem but hasn’t yet found their spine, then go ahead and call/email them (hey, it worked for Chuck Schumer). Make yourself an old fashioned phone tree. Call the people you know in states that have Republican U.S. Senators, get them on that 5 calls site — which even provides call scripts — and tell them to call their friends and tell them to tell them to do the right thing.
Totally into social media: Share news and information (real facts!). Over 60% of adults get some of their news from social media, but most of those people are scanning headlines and not clicking through. On Facebook or Instagram, shoot for no more than two posts per day, as that is likely to get you more eyeballs and is what people are willing to engage with before the likes and comments drop off. Unless it’s a picture of your kid/pet/car doing something adorable, in which case everybody will like it because they feel obliged and that’s truly the extent of the engagement they want with that particular pride and joy of yours and this is supposed to be about politics dammit so keep your eye on the ball. Go for up to five posts per day on Pinterest, and note that lots of moms and lots of teachers hang out there, so post things that are appealing to that audience. On Twitter, post as much as you want, that’s what it’s there for. Don’t feed the trolls, but don’t unfriend people who don’t agree with you either, because …
Changing Hearts and Minds
Now here’s the most important part, and the part that’s going to be hardest to do: don’t insult the other side, try to understand them instead. That’s how you make sustainable change.
OMG what!?!
I know. Can you believe it. A nation of grown-ups showing respect for each other’s lived experiences and decision-making abilities even when that experience and those decisions are different from your own.
You’ve probably heard of the filter bubble and how Ds and Rs get different search results and see different news feeds and it’s like we’re living in two Americas you guys. We don’t have to come into contact with anyone who disagrees with us socially or politically. Which is convenient, because then we can post and get likes and insult and disparage the other side without ever having to engage in a real dialogue. Except that doesn’t do anything but pump the echo chamber with even more hot air, and play right into the politics of division — where the opposition casts us as the opposition and everybody gets more and more polarized and nobody wins.
We could learn from Italy and Venezuela, both of whom had leaders similar to Trump in style and temperament, and had a helluva time getting rid of them. Here’s what they learned:
- The messenger is more important than the message. People need to hear from somebody they trust, and all the real facts in the world won’t matter if the audience doesn’t trust the messenger.
- Insults, contempt and self-righteousness make everything worse. Would you listen to somebody who called you stupid or racist? Nope, me neither.
- Don’t oppose everything. And when you do oppose things, make it about policy and not personality.
So there you go. What’s next? We have plenty to do over the next four years, and along the way let’s try some soul-searching too. Find what we have in common and build on that — we are more alike than we are different. Model the tolerance that’s required to feed not just the resistance but real, lasting, progress and cultural change.
