I mean, I just admitted to lying to pollsters at every opportunity in another post. I know I am not the only one who wants to watch the world burn. I want the polls to be unreliable!
Oh, yes, dealing with the tension between the grassroots and the national party is a real thing to deal with. It may be true that the presidential primary is the only game right now in your jurisdiction, but there are frequently special or other off-cycle local elections, too.
I’d go so far as to say the presidential primaries are pretty pointless this time around, as the contest seems to be already set-up, regardless of primary results. Thanks for your insightful comment.
I would need to know your jurisdiction and I won’t ask you to dox yourself. For local judges, some states put out a voter information pamphlet. Your Secretary of State’s website may have resources too.
There are a few websites out there that keep track of rulings. chooseyourjudges.org seems to do a credible job. There are others.
I liked the suggestion in another comment of making research of local candidates a social activity because it is a lot of work. However, once you do identify the right resources for your local situation, it gets easier.
Best of luck! Even a half hours effort is more than most are willing to do.
That’s a great idea and I think I will suggest it to our local party as a theme for house parties that the more engaged volunteers can throw. People hate door-knocking and it’s not the most effective thing to do anyway, so we are always searching for more impactful activities.
I hate to say this, but ‘think of the children’ and include them if they are old enough to not be a complete distraction. My views on democracy were formed from very young listening to my parents discuss politics amongst themselves and others. My household was ‘divided’ politically in that my mother was a labor Democrat active in her union governance and my father an Eisenhower-type Republican who once ran for a county office unsuccessfully. Seeing them disagree about politics, but still have a generally loving relationship was extremely influential. You never know who is watching.
Oh, that sucks, but thank you for sharing the story. It is a very important lesson and the type of situation you describe is very, very common in US local elections.
We get fed hopium stories about how one person can make a difference, but those simplistic stories don’t usually explain how one person can make a difference. We only get to see the stories of exceptional leaders who are buoyed up by the invisible efforts of the people who made their own humble difference in their local area.
I happened to be in DC on an unrelated lobbying trip during the Bush II administration on the day they reauthorized the voting rights act in 2006. Jesse Jackson was wandering around doing photo ops as is the norm. What didn’t make it on to TV was the veritable army of formidable organizers who themselves were representing their own local constituencies. Mr. Jackson’s power and visibility was directly derived from the humble and tireless work of supporters, just like any other political figure.
Thanks for commenting. I don’t think most comments so far have missed my point by much. You certainly seem to ‘get it’. I see the comments to this point as more the typical thing of online comments talking past one another.
It’s more of a symptom of online discourse. You can’t see me, my body language or general demeanor and we don’t have to take turns as is polite in real life conversation. You probably don’t even know what US state I am in unless you peek at my comment history. Does the presidency matter? God, yes! Is it productive to spend one’s limited energy and time arguing about that online. A resounding NO!
As a made-up example, a voter from California talking to a voter in Michigan online may be pretty pointless as their situations and political calculus are very different. Two voters from the same jurisdiction having a meeting of the minds is significantly more effective.
I certainly cannot disagree with you. I guess I’m making an argument about how an individual should spend their precious and limited time and emotional energy.
How would you suggest a person get their state to sign the compact?
Thank you for your comment, and special thanks for engaging in good faith.
One thing I have learned from getting a bit more involved is that there are more people of good faith than being online too much would lead you to believe.
When you get involved locally, you can actually feel some reward for your efforts. Multiply my puny efforts by the literally millions of people who might agree with my general sentiments and then suddenly, we might get the changes we need so desperately .
Pretty sure I didn’t say it didn’t matter. It’s just that your vote and engagement at the local level are more effective than making everything about the presidential contest. I’m attempting to shift the conversation to topics that don’t just de-moralize people and enforce the all-too-easy feelings of helplessness that engenders.
It feels good to spend a weekend knocking on doors doing get-out-the-vote efforts for a school board candidate you actually know and support, especially when the race ends up hinging on about 80 votes. Arguing in a circular firing squad about only the presidency just leaves everyone frustrated and no minds are changed.
I understand you and no, my goal isn’t to get people to focus only local. However, I definitely feel the over-emphasis on presidential politics hurts in both areas, local and Federal. The federal situation is very discouraging due to the not-invalid gripes about the electoral college. I really just want to shift the conversation away from the over-emphasis on how our votes are diluted so unfairly at the highest level.
If one spends all their emotional energy arguing about the presidential election, there’s little left over for the equally important local issues. In fact, I would argue that the way to directly address the flaws of the electoral college in the long run is to focus on getting more people involved locally. That’s how you build a movement. It’s a hard pill to swallow, but fixing this crappy situation is a generations-worth of effort.
My intent is a sort of emotional aikido, I guess? Emotions are so high about the presidential and I think the disinformation campaigns exploit that by exhausting people on the big picture issues an individual can do little about.