These past few weeks, as the news rolling out of the White House seems to get increasingly grim and intolerable, it feels more important than ever to get politically involved. On one hand, everything is making me depressed: community organizations we work with are never going to see the Department of Energy grant that they won, we now have to talk about equity in terms of “Return on Investment” and there are still no goddamn eggs.
But on the other hand, I’m inspired by my friends and family members who have been making calls, donating, and going to protests. Despite a prevailing sense of futility, I see people stepping up and getting involved in political discourse. It’s great to see involvement in this crisis moment, and it reminds me of the upswell in civic engagement we saw during the last Trump presidency.
I’m happy to see this involvement because I believe that it can make a difference in political outcomes (I guess I still have that much faith in American democracy). And while I think we’re already seeing how this work can impact national politics in the short term, but I’m also excited about what this could mean at the state and local level in the long term.
Let me put it this way: I think of civic engagement as a muscle that gets stronger the more you use it. The more you learn about political processes and how to navigate them, the more effective you become and influencing political will. The problem is that most Americans only get involved politically in presidential election cycles. We can look at voter turnout rates as an example: ~62% of eligible voters turnout in a presidential election, ~48% of eligible voters turnout in a midterm election, and only 21% of voters turned out in the NYC 2021 mayoral election. Ironically, we are most engaged when we have the least control (federal politics) and least engaged when we have the most control (local politics). This is like going to the gym once every four years and trying to deadlift 400lbs: impossible and demoralizing.
But I think one way to make it easier to get involved is to smart small. There may not be anything you can do today to stop an executive order, but there is probably something going on in your city, town, or neighborhood that directly affects your life that you can get involved with. In some cases, that means voting, but it could also mean getting involved with a group that is advocating on behalf of something you care about. For those of us who have been out of the “gym” for a while, signing up to be a member of an organization is like lifting a light weight to start building that civic engagement muscle.
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Contrary to a lot of political messaging, it’s not your job to FIX EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW. In fact, I think that kind of rhetoric contributes to the exhausting feeling of endless urgency that permeates Trump-era politics. I personally find it hard to get involved with anything when everything seems to be on fire. But taking those baby steps - signing up for a cause, going to that first meeting, making a friend in the organization - can make all the difference. And as you start to build that muscle, you find out what you do and don’t like. For example, I’ve found that I like policy work as opposed to politics. That’s to say, I’d much rather organize around a political issue than a person running for office.
If you’re interested in getting more involved, here’s a few organizations in New York City that I think are doing great work:
If politics aren’t really your thing, I still think there is so much value in joining something in this moment when we feel so disconnected and disempowered. Whether it’s a book club or a softball team or an olive garden supper club, I think that having a community to regularly connect with just feels good. And honestly, feeling good matters! This is a really challenging time politically, and it will continue to be hard and exhausting. Having people to talk to and rely on and sometimes just escape from everything with can make a huge difference.
So stay strong out there, and start small. And you never know: it’s often in those seemingly apolitical spaces that we learn about others and form our own values.
Bennett
City Speak #42
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