If someone had asked me this 20 years ago or even 10 years ago, I would have answered NO. Sometime in the last 5-10 years, my husband started getting more politically involved, so the natural result was that I did too. It started with watching certain TV talk shows and listening to radio shows. Once I became more aware of how the system worked and what the parties and organizations stood for, I realized that I could do my part to effect change at a grassroots level.
The logical first step was to identify the party affiliation that most closely resembled my views. For me, that was the Republican Party (at the time). I had previously been registered with the Democratic Party (because my parents were). Same for my husband. As time goes on, I realize that I still identify with some of the Republican Party platform, but am an Independent in other areas.
The next step was to do my civic duty and vote in the elections. The general elections, the primary elections, the school board elections, the special elections. While I may not have seen the desired outcomes, I had hoped for, I did participate.
During the last Presidential elections, my husband and I attended the Iowa Straw Poll. Neither of us had attended this before, but we enjoyed it and learned a lot. Later on we attended our county's caucus.
Most recently my husband was a delegate to our county convention and our three kids were junior delegates. My husband was selected as a District Delegate and a State Delegate. The kids are also Junior Delegates to the District and State Conventions. The kids are starting this process much earlier than I ever did.
Another thing that has been an education for me is to get involved with legislation at the grassroots level. Rallying support for an issue, developing a bill, seeing it introduced at the state level and the process it goes through to become a law, has been a great educational tool, both for myself and our children. Great civics lessons.
The advent of the internet and blogging has increased the amount of information on issues significantly and allows you to easily gather information about a topic. Blogging allows you to share your thoughts and get others feedback.
A quote I have read: "All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing." This is not an exact quote and I have been unable to locate the exact author of the quote, but some attribute it to Edmund Burke. I realized that if I am not going to be active and do something, then I have no right to complain if I don't like what is happening in my world. Given the events of the last 2.5 years with our nation's economy, political climate, financial uncertainty and a slide away from the Constitutional principles set forth by our founding fathers, I feel the need to become politically active, not only for the sake of myself, but for my children and future generations that follow.
So my final thought, are you politically active? If the answer is no, I must ask, why not?
