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Hey TL, I've got some issues and I figured somebody on here would be able/willing to help.
Like most people, I'm not 100% happy with how things work in the USA (not that I'm some sort of hater, I think we all have something we would like to be different). The problem is, I have no idea where to start.
Mainstream media, no matter what the source (CNN, NBC, FOX) all seems incredibly biased either to the right or left. Also, alot of the people that are given air time don't seem all that different than noise makers like Skip Bayless on ESPN. Whenever I try to look at alternative sources, I can never be sure whether they are pushing an angle or are responsibly reporting the news as well.
Im mad about the NSA scandal and I signed a petition or two, but is that all I can do? It also gets me upset when I hear stories about government officials exploiting the system or not doing their jobs.
It's also frustrating to see how stagnant things are in our government. I understand that its a natural part of having multiple voices involved in deciding issues, but it seems like some of the stagnation is just to protect the people already in charge.
I'd like to support 3rd parties (or at least support them as a viable alternative to Rep/Dem's) but Idk how to go about doing something like that.
I'm not saying im some sort of anarchist or anything, but I think that I should make my voice head. Thanks for reading! Any help would be awesome 
  
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i am not 100% sure, but cant you write letters to your congressman or something in the usa?
sadly, i dont see a third party being relevant in the usa any time soon.
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There are very few things that you can do to influence policy, especially at the federal level. I recently watched an interesting interview which you may enjoy... in a way. Watch the three parts. Note that it just confirms what people already knew. Change is hard to pull off.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-july-29-2013/exclusive---mark-leibovich-extended-interview-pt--1
When I saw your post, my first reaction was to tell you, well, become rich and run for congress... but even that gives you a very limited amount of power. You won't change big things, even if you get elected. The most you'll ever be able to do is you'll put pressure which, on a good day, could slow down the massive wall of bullshit...
You can join pressure groups or lobbies or whatever but many people get into politics expecting to be able to change the world when even Obama has his hands tied in most matters, and dissident ideas are made irrelevant.
In other words, you can join the resistance and manage to change very little.
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Try making some VLOG's on youtube or something else that will get your opinions out there.
Just getting your opinions out there and making an impact on some people can do more than you would think.
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I'm politically active.
The wrong way to do it is to start protesting everything on earth in a vain attempt to be like Amnesty int'l and the like. The wrong way to do it is to become a facebook warrior and post about a huge trial/case/riot that you followed once last year and for the two days the verdict was given this year. The wrong way to become politically active is to try to know everything you can about a certain candidate in order to invalidate other's reasons for voting for him. The wrong way to become politically active is to follow a ton of political science blogs that are written by politically extreme students at foreign universities. The wrong way is to cold-turkey run for congress
The right way is a two road street. If you want to get into politics but not be a politician you need to work as a campaign intern or a volunteer for a few years, work your way into the backrooms where the real politics happens (become a campaign manager basically) once you've tried your hand as a campaign intern, you get chosen to help run the campaign as a campaign manager or a gun-for-hire. Downsides to this is the incredible time needed to do these thigns (often it would mean leaving your day job at 5pm and working in the office till 9-10pm) and then going home because of the time output necessary. This way requires no actual schooling in political science. The other right way is to go college again (I mean the campus) and find out what non-profits are volunteering where. Find one you like, it could be one that feeds the homeless, something, and work at that and volunteer there whenever you can. Work your way doing that and then after a couple years, propose to start your own run or a gathering to support the cause. Get to know a lot of people, and then use those ties to get you into a good position. You then use this position with your peers and generally high social standing to run for small offices; you then talk to the man in charge of the larger offices (your congressman's secretary or senator's secretary) and you tell them you'd like to work for them. You tell them you want to run for the office, and that you respect what they've done, but you have your own spin on things. You then tell them that before you run, you want to get knowledge of how things are run and you work for them. After all this you run for the position. The downsides to this are less the time of doing things, but how long it takes to actually get into office and the money required to do so.
Those are your two best ways dude. I've worked in the political field as an intern for grassroots campaigns and talked to the guys who run the backroom politics that my congressman is a part of, though I should say he's a good man despite that, and those are your two options in reality.
Sorry for the wall of text  . Also, the way I stated is only if you want to become a politician or a political worker. If you just want to protest shit, just join a protest group. The stuff I posted is if you want to personally see to change.
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You can also work to become involved with local politics--which actually affect you more than what the federal govt. does. You can support things, but unless you're willing to invest the time to become the leader for those causes, understand that you're just supporting.
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If you want unbiased information, you have to consult multiple sources (from inside and outside the country). The problem then arises that humans generally tend to only believe/value the information that supports their already formed opinion, so you have to be extra careful about analyzing the different sources objectively. Finding the truth usually isn't that hard, realizing and accepting that you found it is.
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Best way : Cant beat them, join 'm and change them slowly with debating... but this is a longlife commitment which many will not undertake. Takes a while too because ur influence in the start will be minimal! Basically this means u will pursuit a political career.
The rest is useless because no matter what u vote for.... democrats, republicans or ron paul... this will not change or decrease the influence of the Banks/Lobbyists/NSAs/FBIs/CIAs/NASAs and other services in your country etcetcetc.
Edit : Also, u can ask yourself a trick questions like : 1
1. How many Facebooks may the NSA tap to save 100 lives by preventing a bombing?
And then ask yourself :
2. How many taps would preventing the 9/11-terrorist attack have been worth?
These are hard questions.. which i dont even have an answer too... But it shows the hard questions politicians are trying to answer. Good luck. (ill leave my opinion out of this post, as i dont know yet, it was just an example)
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The greatest political acts tend to be influencing people through speaking and writing, but the best way to do that is to not be a politician. Politics is simply a facade, no matter how eloquent you speak as a politician it will be suspect, hence, shedding that and simply being human, and debating as a human is the best way. Not to walk into a room with a political label on yourself, people, especially stupid people will not really listen well to that.
Christopher Hitchens was a notorious example of that, people called him a liberal, a conservative, anarchist and a communist. Why? He simply debated each separate thing on its merits, hence he often took stances that weren't restricted to a political corner.
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On August 02 2013 00:09 ultrakiss wrote:Hey TL, I've got some issues and I figured somebody on here would be able/willing to help. Like most people, I'm not 100% happy with how things work in the USA (not that I'm some sort of hater, I think we all have something we would like to be different). The problem is, I have no idea where to start. Mainstream media, no matter what the source (CNN, NBC, FOX) all seems incredibly biased either to the right or left. Also, alot of the people that are given air time don't seem all that different than noise makers like Skip Bayless on ESPN. Whenever I try to look at alternative sources, I can never be sure whether they are pushing an angle or are responsibly reporting the news as well. Im mad about the NSA scandal and I signed a petition or two, but is that all I can do? It also gets me upset when I hear stories about government officials exploiting the system or not doing their jobs. It's also frustrating to see how stagnant things are in our government. I understand that its a natural part of having multiple voices involved in deciding issues, but it seems like some of the stagnation is just to protect the people already in charge. I'd like to support 3rd parties (or at least support them as a viable alternative to Rep/Dem's) but Idk how to go about doing something like that. I'm not saying im some sort of anarchist or anything, but I think that I should make my voice head. Thanks for reading! Any help would be awesome
I doubt that any of the big news channels is left wing.
There are really only two parties in the USA.
One is center right and is called the democrats, the other is batshit crazy and full of wanna be religious bible belt fanatics, crazy old millionaires, teabaggers and other crazy folk.
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On August 02 2013 04:49 govie wrote:
Best way : Cant beat them, join 'm and change them slowly with debating... but this is a longlife commitment which many will not undertake. Takes a while too because ur influence in the start will be minimal! Basically this means u will pursuit a political career.
The rest is useless because no matter what u vote for.... democrats, republicans or ron paul... this will not change or decrease the influence of the Banks/Lobbyists/NSAs/FBIs/CIAs/NASAs and other services in your country etcetcetc.
Edit : Also, u can ask yourself a trick questions like : 1
1. How many Facebooks may the NSA tap to save 100 lives by preventing a bombing?
And then ask yourself :
2. How many taps would preventing the 9/11-terrorist attack have been worth?
These are hard questions.. which i dont even have an answer too... But it shows the hard questions politicians are trying to answer. Good luck. (ill leave my opinion out of this post, as i dont know yet, it was just an example)
The answer is none, or do you think:
Mohamaed alah Agbar posted on Facebook:
Tomorrow we will hijack a plane and fly it into a tower. Wish me luck.
Bin Laden likes this.
Will ever happen or that terrorist coordinate themselves using facebook and twitter?
They are telling you bullshit and when the tell you they prevented an attack and arrest someone because of their spy measures, the truth is: (this really happened)
They found some dumb teen on the internet that posted some silly ideas and encouraged him that being a terrorist is a good idea and put fanatic ideas in his head. Then because the teen was to dumb to come up with some terror plan or execute it, they even provided him with explosives and plans, and then finally arrested him.
I mean really? WTF is wrong with them ?
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It depends what you are angry about. I'd join a political party, go to meetings, help as much as you can. Unfortunately for you in America political parties is a bit of a euphemism, and i'm sorry about that, you have to choose between one or the other pretty much, or find a decent independent or Green hanging around.
For me getting into politics has been about being a real actor in the local community. I really believe that the problem is that there is an idea that to change our community for the better you have to get power and then use it to make stuff better. But i'm trying it the other way around at the moment. I've been working on various projects, volunteering for everything that might help people and the local environment, and most importantly getting people to rely on me, and then not letting them down.
At the same time as doing this i've joined a local party and am getting more and more involved with them, which positively reinforces the good i am doing elsewhere, because i have a larger support network and more volunteers to draw from.
Most of all i would say find some people who want something changed, and then see if there are things you can do in the local community to make them just 1% better. Then work on percent number 2. Don't try to protest the biggest things, it is very time and motivation consuming, and you might well end up burning yourself out.
Most importantly don't give up hope! Change does happen in good ways some times, and if you are involved in that change nothing ever feels better.
Good luck.
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On August 02 2013 04:20 DamageControL wrote:
You can also work to become involved with local politics--which actually affect you more than what the federal govt. does. You can support things, but unless you're willing to invest the time to become the leader for those causes, understand that you're just supporting. Municipal politics is the way to go. Easy to get involved in. Small enough that one person can make a difference. And you can get involved as a candidate, campaign worker, activist, reporter, etc., just as with state and federal politics, and get your feet wet.
Edit: And a lot of national issues show up at the municipal level. For instance, privacy: drone use by local police, e.g. just recently in Seattle. Internet issues: community-run internet. Banking: buying underwater mortgages with eminent domain, e.g. just recently an issue in Richmond, CA.
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There's lots you can do. I don't know what point you're at in life (college, post-grad, etc.) but I found that interning really gets you perspective in the real world when it comes to politics. There are many advocacy groups out there that support and oppose specific legislation. I worked at a business advocacy group that would write policy papers for businesses in the surrounding areas to read and discuss. If the legislation was decided to be supported, in the name of good business, we would write a letter to the congressman or whoever, that all the businesses we represent are in support of the given legislation. Even though I've since grown ethically against this sort of sponsorship, it gave me great insight into the political process and helped me learn a lot about new legislation in local, state and federal government.
You can campaign for a local politician. I've never met more great people in a day than campaigning. It requires a ton of time, and its a lot of really shitty tedious work (mostly phone calls that people hate), but the environment of all the people rallied for a cause is great. It's a great way to meet people for future inquires into the political sphere as well. If you're a gregarious person you'll enjoy it a lot and meet a lot of future contacts.
Most importantly, broadcast your views to your friends and others in a way that when people ask "what are you?" (as in political affiliation) you can tell them, and they will have a positive opinion of that group. Avoid all the partisan bullshit and just stick to what you believe in without attacking people for their opinions. I'm not a christian but I've always liked the phrase "they will know we are christians by our love", and I think the context is similar here.
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Do your part to help getting people informed about civics. That's, IMO, the biggest thing holding us back: being properly informed.
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EPT
