Civics

Civic Diary: Conflict And Construction

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Well, got behind on a lot of these.  So I’m back at it 😉

Anyway, my latest Civic Geek thoughts have been on the issues of conflict in American politics.  Bluntly, a lot of our politics is about looking for enemies.  This tends to be on the “Conservative” side of things (whatever “Conservative” even means any more), but we see it on the Liberal side at times.

Americans often fall for the delusion that if we “just get rid of X” then everything is OK.  Of course this is wrong; it takes a lot of work to make a society run, but ask yourself how many times people fall for this mindset?

If you focus so much on getting rid of something, you never do the work to build a working society.  You don’t improve things.  You don’t fix things.  You don’t try new things.  You don’t grow yourself.

Worse, that even assumes that “Getting rid of X” actually solves the problem.  How many times have people been told “THOSE people” are the issue and of course, the real issue was the bastard telling you to “get rid of those people” while he picks your pockets or sells you out.

So even when “X” is a problem, you have to focus on making sure you have a working society.  In fact, that working society, like a healthy immune system, might prevent any actual bad thing from doing as much damage.  It might keep similar problems from arising.

You have to work to make yourself – and your society – strong.  Preventing actual bad things is done this way, and is far easier than fixing problems after they start.

This is one concern I have in the age of Trump, which in some ways is George Bush II magnified.  Bluntly, I think Trump is the worst president in American History, and we’re going to be paying for the damage for decades.  Trump embodies the “X is the problem” mindset, but dealing with him can lead people to too easily thinking once he’s out of office, everything’s OK.

It isn’t.  If he got there, there’s a problem, which seems kinda obvious.

Good Civic Participation should focus on making a strong social and political system.  Good Civic Participation is about a diverse system that ensures a functional, grounded society, since participation is citizenship.

We’re going to have a lot of lessons in psychology in the years to come.

Civic Diary: Everyday Stuff

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First up, my monthly civic geek roundup. Where am I?

  • First, still doing the local political group. Trying to do more, frankly, but we’ve had trouble coordinating. I do have my posting down to a system.
  • My usual calling and annoying my elected officials of course. Been a bit off on that, but overall keeping at it.
  • I’ve vaguely scheduled a plan to get more into doing Op-Eds and writing newspapers/news sites. There’s a class I can take and a book I found.

Now this month’s thought is on the fact that one big contribution you can make beyond your activism is keeping Shit Running.

This is a massive, MASSIVE, missed part of politics and society in general. Society requires the actions of so many of us, every day, to keep going. It requires driving your kid to school, helping a friend with a resume, cleaning up at your apartment complex, giving a friend a ride. A huge amount of a functional society is Everyday Stuff.

Do not shit on everyday stuff. Everyday stuff keeps things running. Everyday stuff creates ties between people. Everyday stuff is the foundation of so much that we can forget it. Doing it can remind us as well as keeping the whole shebang of society running.

One of the greatest failures in America, of our current crazy, conspiracy-theory-soaked, hating-our-fellow-Americans politics is people forget everday stuff. People are disconnected from action and reaction, from their neighbors, from real human concerns – and their politics are often a mixture of paranoia and abstraction and unawareness. There’s no visceral element except, perhaps, anger.

Ever have one of those friends or family members that seems spun off into their own world? You get the idea. They’re not only lost, they’re often not Getting Stuff Done (or as a much Stuff). They’re abstracted, disconnected – and easily manipulated.

One of my recent experiences – among many – has been having a friend in Puerto Rico. Trying to figure how to help them. Trying to keep in touch. You want hard reality, it’s right there.

So it’s up to all of us to Get Shit Done and keep society going. On top of all our other involvements.

  • Steve

 

Civic Geek: Grinding On

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Keeping up on the Civic Geekery here – or what I’m doing to be more of a citizen.  Posting this, of course, to inspire people.

One thing I found is that you can get “Samey” with what you do – I noted last time I got a bit disconnected.  So what I’ve done here is take a look at one group I’m helping and say “we’re kinda in a rut, what can I do?”  To get a meeting together.  Remember when being active, you can engage and improve – it is being civicly engaged, it’s being activist.

I also mentioned my disengagement and I found some of that is me.  Do not automate your political involvement and take your heart out of it, learn to connect with people.  I was feeling poorly but dragged myself to a political meeting, and it felt great.  To stay civic stay in touch with people.

Another thing I’ve done is worked to deliver news to my different political organizations – which is a bit challenging as you don’t want to be “that person” who just posts stuff.  So I set a limit of one a day or so maximum, if it promotes activism.

Finally, one big thing I’ve done is follow the news of activism more closely – don’t just do your thing, see what others are doing.  Post-Trump I’m amazed to see how many people got active but also how many people were active – you really never see the huge network that supports our society until you look.

I have fell off of my news following and really need to fix that – focused more nationally and missed a lot of local stuff.  It’s always important to stay local.

Still don’t quite feel I’ve got my civic mojo working, but I think it’s because I’m being pulled in many directions – and doing a lot.  Is my convention speaking civic engagement?  My work to have cross-club dinners?  It is, but I think figuring what’s important is hard.  However as I’m big on building community these things do matter.

Now a few resources to help you:

 

– Steve