I’ve followed politics for a long time and before becoming involved all I did was voice my opinion on social media, being a keyboard warrior who made no impact at all. That changed in 2016 when I got a call from Bernie Sanders’ campaign. I’ve worked for several statewide campaigns following that before getting fully involved with The Green Party in 2020. As much work as I’ve done on the campaign trail I never truly learned how to do democracy until I was told I needed to read Robert’s Rules of Order, went through Just Communities training, and now the unofficial Green Party US Discord Server is helping us further our education by starting a book club, and January’s book in Ralph Nader’s Civics For Democracy.
Being involved in electoral politics will only get us so far, but I imagine you’re wondering what you can do that will make an impact. Look no further than starting with Nader’s book, in which he tells us things we can do to further the causes we care about. How should you make a flyer for an event? What type of citizen group are you looking to make? Nader covers these things and so many more things we can do beyond going to the ballot box a few times a year. Democracy requires active participation from us, otherwise we’re going to be left out of power and at the mercy of oligarchs.
There are so many things that you can have in your toolkit to work for the things you believe and care about. As Nader says in his book “this country has more problems than it should tolerate and more solutions than it uses.” Nader has decades of experience as a consumer advocate, getting car companies and the government on board with requiring seat belts in their vehicles. The powerful may have the upper hand when it comes to money, but we can move this country in the direction we want by organizing people. We just need to be willing to educate ourselves on how to do it, and Nader’s book Civics For Democracy is a great place to start.
Join the unofficial Green Party US server, read along and discuss the book with us!
