be politically active

I was invited to meet with one of the aldermen of this city, as a new member of the political party. It was great, good to talk to him, share ideas, meet new people…
I’ve let them know I’m interested in doing something for the party, not so much handing out flyers, but being part of a more ‘backstage’-team, thinking about strategies etc.
Very soon two more meetings with the other aldermen, should be interesting!

I’ve re-opened this entry because I think it’s important to actively do something with my ideals. I’ve figured out how local politics work, I’m become member of a political party, and as the local elections are coming up in a few months, it would be nice to be able to do something for the party and thus for the city.

foreign politics. It just amuzes me to see how the political mechanism works in different parts of the world. I’ve always been interested in politics and one of my favorite classes in High School was government. I’d like to help spread the word to this generation of youth the importance of knowing the political system because in the end it determines how we will live for the following years and how it will affect the years after that. Just to get smart and research potencial candidates for presidency, not just in my country but in others.

Get involved with Repulican party, work an election, contribute to local issues.

On hold for now, too many other things going on in my life on which I want to focus.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’m not even sure how to go about getting registered to vote, or whether I already am. And… I don’t know how to find out when something needs to be voted on. I’ll plan to call the city and try to find out.

I participated in MoveOn.org’s Call for Change, where volunteers get a list of potential voters to call before he 2006 Congressional mid-term election. It felt great to be actively influencing and participating in the democractic process, rather than just sit back and complain about the outcome.

I’m considering joining a five day course on local politics, how it works in my city… Maybe it could inspire me to do more and be more active in politics!

Ok I did something not directly linked to politics, but still…
Some committee brought out advice to the government about isolating rental homes, which boiled down to forcing people to isolate their homes, and then raising the rent ‘because otherwise just the people who live there benefit from isolating their homes and then the housing-corporations don’t benefit from better isolated homes’.
I was so upset about this advice, as I feel that the housing corporations should take responsibility for the environment and set an example (as a better isolated home obviously leads to a lower use of energy), and if they don’t want to invest in their houses then they might as well not be a housing corporation.
Anyway, long story, but I sent a letter to the committee, and thought I would never hear from them again, and this week I got an email from them saying they would consider my and other people’s reactions!
It felt so good, even though I don’t actually know what they’ll do with my comments, but it feels good to have written the letter and express my concerns about this governmental advice!

I guess I’m a bit too busy at the moment for this one. I don’t even bother to read the weekly newsletter I get from the party I was interested in! But: I’ve kept this weeks newsletter in my inbox with the intention to read it and not just throw it away.
It’s the least I can do! And if I don’t even bother reading the newsletter, how will I ever be more politically active?? I really should make more of an effort.