• 0 Posts
  • 17 Comments
Joined 11 months ago
Cake day: August 15th, 2023
  • Dempf@lemmy.ziptopolitics @lemmy.world•We Just Watched a Warmongering Foreign Lobbyist Group Buy a Seat in Congress
    94·
    6 days ago

    It is good and reasonable to be continually skeptical of the people and organizations we get involved with, and I appreciate your warning and looking out for bad organizations.

    On the other hand, my experience in politics leads me to believe that if you sit around waiting for the perfect allies, you will usually be waiting alone for a very long time.

    Looking at this group, it looks like in my state (Utah) they have been key support for a couple of well respected local nonprofits that have done great work on RCV and anti gerrymandering. That doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me.

    I think it’s a mistake generally to view Republicans as the enemy. Even if they are in a leadership role like in the RNC. For example, in Utah, nothing gets done without Republican approval. So saying “I won’t work with you because you’re Republican” here is a losing strategy to make changes. And we now have the beginnings of progress on RCV.

    So I think we should continue to be vigilant and watch out for the first signs that people are acting in bad faith. But if we want our ideas to be popular, we are going to need to learn to (without compromising our own values) build a bigger tent.

  • Dempf@lemmy.ziptoGreentext@sh.itjust.works•Anon challenges a fine
    162·
    10 days ago

    My understanding is usually you can go before the judge and explain that the higher insurance rates will be a burden for you. Usually you don’t necessarily need a lawyer to go and ask for that. The judge will often add some stipulations like double the fine you pay now, and you can’t get another ticket for a certain amount of time.

    When I lived in Illinois they had formalized the process and called it “court supervision” which is an option you can check on the ticket, but you do have to appear in court. Can’t get another speeding ticket for a year, and they won’t report it to insurance.

    When I got a second speeding ticket though after 11 months, I did hire a lawyer. He requested continuance for me, so that by the time they heard the case, it had been 12 months, and I could do a second court supervision. Since then I decided to try to avoid getting more tickets.

  • Dempf@lemmy.ziptoNews@lemmy.world•A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn
    6·
    28 days ago

    Thanks for your reply. I think I might have introduced a bit of confusion here, as I’m making two points in a bit of an implicit way.

    My first point is a bit of a refutation of the OP. It’s basically the same as you’ve heard from any other political non-profit: “you can make a difference with just 5 minutes of your time! It doesn’t matter if you’re broke and struggling under late-stage capitalism just like the rest of us, your voice matters!”

    There is both truth, and deception in that statement.

    The truth is that small actions do make a difference. I’ve seen the link between how getting more contacts from my district to congressional offices helps me set meetings with the office. Anyone can pick up the phone and call Congress, it doesn’t take a special skill, or money. Similarly with the postcard thing – if someone felt like doing it, and if postcards & stamps were provided by the group, it wouldn’t take a lot of extra time or money to do like a couple dozen, and I’m sure that person would feel more involved and empowered. I’m not trying to say everyone should do it, just that it takes less effort than you might think to make a real noticeable difference, even if you’re struggling under late-stage capitalism.

    The deception is thinking that it is enough for a movement to rely solely on these actions as a strategy. It is not enough on its own and leads to slacktivism, and is probably part of why most of us have felt so burnt out for so long on the idea of making changes – we’ve been burned before (remember Net Neutrality?)

    Therefore, my second point, and the reason that I shared a bit more about what I’ve been doing, is that I’m trying to give people a little bit of hope. I’m trying to build on the first point (it’s easier than you think to take a small action). And what I’m building on that to say is: “don’t worry that you (person who has very little time/money to contribute) aren’t doing enough, because I’m here to pick up the rest. I’ve got this. We are a team, so pass the ball to me, and put me in the play”.

    What I’m trying to say is, a movement needs both pieces. Again, movements that have the first (popular pressure) but lack the second (volunteer development, engagement, active lobbying, etc.) tend to fizzle out like the Net Neutrality movement.

    On the other hand, some movements have heavily dedicated and invested volunteers, but can’t convince an average American to do things like regularly contact their representative. The feedback we get in my state from congressional offices is something like 100 contacts per month, every month on a particular issue will cause them to start taking it more seriously. Without meeting that threshold, a movement will never get traction no matter how enthusiastic their core volunteers are. Nobody will take them seriously.

  • Dempf@lemmy.ziptoNews@lemmy.world•A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn
    3·
    28 days ago

    I’m sure that many will be thrown away, and the cynical take sounds logical at face value. But that’s not what the data shows:

    https://www.environmentalvoter.org/results

    Postage costs were spread around among volunteers. Some people have more time than money, some have more money than time. Personally, I paid for about 250 postcard stamps, and got a roll of 100 from the group. Others got more or less rolls of stamps.

    Cynicism among folks who care about climate change is understandable, and widespread, which is a big motivation for sending postcards targeting climate voters. The data shows that we tend to vote less than the average voter. If we really want the political changes that we say we do, then we need to show it and take action.

    It’s entirely possible that it is too late to do anything about climate change. But if we act as if it’s true then we make it a certainty, where now it is only a probability.

  • Dempf@lemmy.ziptoNews@lemmy.world•A heat dome will send temperatures into the triple-digits across the West as fires burn
    131·
    28 days ago

    You are absolutely right about all the challenges facing average Americans that keep us too busy to do a lot about issues like these.

    Still, there are lots of different ways to help. Some do require more time, and are probably out of reach for someone who’s just barely getting by. But some require less.

    Today I dropped off at the post office 350 hand written postcards to low propensity climate voters in my state. I wrote and addressed the postcards while I was watching TV, so it didn’t really take much more of my free time (I would have been watching TV anyways). Elections in my state have been decided by only a few hundred votes, so actions like this do make a difference.

    Next week, I will be meeting with staff for my member of Congress in person in D.C. I have the luxury of having the time and money to make this happen, but if you pick up the phone or write an email every single month to your congressional office and mention climate change, it makes it much easier for us to get these meetings and get our point across. Pressure on congressional offices alone doesn’t get the job done, but it makes them take us more seriously when we meet with them and present a bill that we want them to support.

    Congress is pretty dysfunctional right now, but we still have managed to get some climate friendly legislation through. Every bit of help and support we get along the way makes a difference.

    The group I volunteer with is Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and I think they are the best, but there are other groups out there. The American Conversation Coalition is more right-leaning and has been gaining traction recently. The Sunrise Movement is more left-leaning, though for some reason I haven’t heard much from them recently, at least in my state. I’m sure there are other groups out there besides those three.