One writer has a reason for hope this election
February off-year elections will impact many prominent issues
How will you face the latest Minnesota leadership crisis?
Two national senators and one governor to elect in an off-year election. The Bernie movement at a make or break point two years ahead of the next presidential election, and much division among competing Bernie efforts. Cannabis in crisis over Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ threats to attack the legalization of marijuana and new Trumpism every day bring rage and despair; what will you do?
As a political enthusiast and organizer, there is no path but forward as we know what we want to leave behind. The opportunity and enthusiasm for change hasn’t been greater since the 1960s. Will you be a part of it?
For many of you this will be your first experience at political involvement; for many more it will be the continuation of the effort to elect Bernie or Trump. There has seldom been more incentive to stand up and be heard. This is the opportunity of your lifetime to become part of the change that will happen, with or without your presence. If you don’t participate, you will wish you had.
From publicly-funded higher education and college debt forgiveness, to social justice and racial equality, we have many reasons to stand and demand that our voices be heard. From the highest childhood poverty rate of any industrialized nation to the worst healthcare system, we have a lot to fix in America. After nearly 50 years of stagnating wages and vastly reduced spending power that have undermined our living standard, we have no place to go but to demand better.
The political arena is moving toward change, but our presence and input is needed to ensure that change favors the majority not an elitist minority. Will we secure living wages and universal income in a future where increasing automation is stealing so many jobs?
With every setback comes the potential for innovation and change. Infrastructure and the repair of environmental degradation hold great potential for future employment. Education and innovation are the building blocks that must be utilized to fight our way back from the disparity and hopelessness that surround us in society today. We have only to look at suicide rates, addiction rates, homelessness, and poverty rates to see that helping others will be a major component of putting Americas future back on a sustainable path. There is no shortage of willingness to meet this challenge in the young adults of today either, and for this reason I hold highest hopes for our future.
Political caucuses will be held Tuesday, Feb. 6th. Your presence and voice are needed to push for the changes we all need. To that end I, and others, will be helping you prepare with caucus training, resolution building and exchanges, petition drives, and legislative debates. You may join with those of us promoting and presenting this information or just attend so that you too will be more effective in your efforts toward change, as change we must.
Politics only evolves when the demand for change is loud enough to be taken seriously. How loud will you be?