Do you feel the world’s not working right, but you’re not sure how to fix it? Do you feel overwhelmed by the world’s problems? Like there’s so much wrong, it’s hopeless to even try? I understand the feeling. By nature, I’m a person who avoids personal conflicts, and takes “a live, and let live” approach to life.
While I may not know how to fix those problems, those who study and research the problems facing humanity do know. They are rarely unanimous in their opinions, often have several suggestions, sometimes conflicting suggestions, but experts do have ideas and research about what has and hasn’t worked to solve issues. One common element about implementing those solutions is they all require one or more things to change.
Change requires desire to change, willingness to change, and effort to change. Once change requires two or more people to do those things, change becomes a political problem. The people involved have to determine what specifically to change, how to implement the change, and provide the resources to make the change.
One thing I’ve observed is that pretty much all of humanity’s problems are political problems. The technology and know-how already exist to solve problems such a global climate change, poverty, hunger, disease, housing, the list goes on and on. The one thing lacking, however, is political willpower. Throughout human history, all our improvements have occurred because enough human beings made the decision to act together to do something. Webster’s dictionary defines politics as “1 the science and art of political government; political science 2 political affairs 3 the conducting of or participation in political affairs, often as a profession 4 political methods, tactics, etc.”.
Political will, its absence, and my musings about politics and influencing people are what this blog is about. It’s about what I’ve learned, and what I think about what I see in the world. My hope is that what I write here will cause others to understand themselves and each other better and to inspire others to become politically involved, because creating political willpower is something I do know something about.
Since 1990 I’ve been a volunteer in a political advocacy organization called RESULTS. RESULTS taught me how to lobby members of Congress and their staffs. It taught me how to connect with my own political power. It introduced me to amazing, everyday people who together have shifted billions of taxpayer dollars to international and U.S. programs that are helping people lift themselves out of poverty. I believe what I’ve learned in RESULTS can be used to lobby all levels of government.
I call myself a reluctant political advocate because I do this work out of a sense of duty. As I wrote above, I’m an avoidant person by nature, yet I find this work of indirectly helping others invigorates me. It makes me come alive in a way few of my other activities do, and it often pushes me out of my comfort zone. Maybe I come alive partly because the work is sometimes scary.
I hope you’ll find interesting, insightful, and inspiring articles that help you help yourself and others. If you do, share them with others and share your thoughts with me.