Election 2016
It has now been a month since the 2016 US Presidential election and I am still stunned by the outcome but am ready to move on.
The major issues I focused on while voting at the Presidential level were a better climate policy and more equal treatment for minorities and other marginalized populations. When I stop and think about why these were the major issues for me, I realize that I am pretty fortunate. I have a great job, generally feel safe, and am optimistic overall about the future and the economy.
The biggest realization for me was that although I care deeply about these issues on a national level, I need to be more involved at the community level.
After thinking about it, there are three ways I want to get more politically involved:
Increase the amount of money I donate to specific organizations on a recurring basis.
Get more involved with organizations that focus on climate advocacy and immigrant populations. I did do some volunteer work with CarbonWA and I want to get more involved with them as well as with an organization that focuses on immigrants such as ReWA
Write more letters to elected officials about the issues I am most passionate about. I have helped make a github repo of all the boundaries of my hometown and I have never used this for any reason other than looking up addresses. At least I know where to look to figure out the various districts I live in.
Will these actions by me make a difference on the national level? Not likely but hard to say. What they will do for sure is to make an impact at the local level and will help me to improve the community around me. If these issues are important enough for me to write this post about, then it goes to show that they are important enough for me to get more involved with.