Vote. Volunteer. Make a Difference!
By Betsy Taylor
This year may go down as one of the most civic-minded in recent memory. Americans of all political persuasions and backgrounds are getting involved with this year’s election, and for good reason. Some 83 percent of citizens in a recent poll commissioned by New American Dream say that our society is focused on the wrong priorities. People are worried about our nation’s direction and many are getting into politics for the very first time. Cynicism is out. Activism is in.
If you’ve been sitting it out, there is still time to volunteer, educate yourself about issues and candidates, and encourage your friends and relatives to do the same. This is a year for political engagement. The celebrity artist P. Diddy may be overstating things a tad with his “Vote or Die” t-shirts, but no doubt this is one of the most important elections in recent memory.
Many organizations working for a sustainable society have steered clear of national politics and federal policy fights in recent years, opting to work on individual behavior change, community initiatives, and market-based campaigns aimed at influencing corporate behavior. National elections and policy fights, so often captive to special interests, have largely been shunned because the odds of making a positive impact seemed slim. But that has changed in 2004. Nonprofit groups are prohibited from directly influencing elections but they are permitted to engage in non-partisan voter registration and education. Many groups have entered the political fray for the first time.
New American Dream is encouraging its members and activists to get political in three ways: First, register to vote, volunteer in electoral campaigns, and recruit friends and relatives to do the same; second, build bridges and listen deeply to people who don’t agree with you because regardless of who wins in November, we will not solve problems without greater unity as a nation; and third, join our citizen advocacy network and help us press for policies that will move our nation toward a sustainable future.
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that current federal policies, many fostered under both Republican and Democratic administrations, ncourage us to consume more, waste more, work more, and scramble through life. Our frantic lives are tied, at least in part, to public policies that minimize our ability to feel safe — about retirement, housing, college tuition, healthcare, and employment, let alone terrorism — and that maximize the pressures on us to acquire and work more, no matter the cost. With no safety net whatsoever (and Social Security looking increasingly bleak if you’re under 50 years of age) and rising prices for housing and healthcare, Americans must work even harder. We’re living in a 24-7 global economy where many workers feel unable to negotiate a shortened work week or adequate vacation. At the same time, policies permit intrusive advertising to children, taxpayer-subsidized junk mail, and little protection from predatory lenders. We are encouraged to consume and work ourselves into oblivion.
Meanwhile, there is literally no attention given to the environmental
consequences of consumption. It is still largely taboo to debate the pros and
cons of inexorable growth and consumption. Liberal and conservative economists
and elected officials are largely unified in calling for increased consumption
and ever higher rates of growth, touting both as the lynchpins of capitalism and
progress. The Soviet Union collapsed some 15 years ago but it’s still largely
unthinkable to talk about whether our economic policies are generating an
equitable, prosperous, and healthy world — the very conversation still connotes
images of socialism and subversive anti-Americanism. Yet, we urgently need
policies that help our nation conserve resources, slow the growth associated
with resource extraction and expansive development, increase growth in
information and service sectors, and encourage renewable technologies.
Since 1980, progressives have been on the defensive, beating back policy proposals that have one thing in common. With few exceptions, our national policy priorities have repeatedly institutionalized greed and favored those with financial power. Name the industry, follow the money, and look at the endgame. Energy companies, most notably Halliburton and Enron, have had a particularly cozy relationship with the current administration, but the Clinton administration went to bed with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies on healthcare reform. Gambling has evolved from a vice to a necessity — promoted by state and federal leaders as the solution to our financial woes. Taxpayers subsidize the extraction of gold, oil, and coal from pristine natural areas and cover the costs of hazardous cleanup when the mines shut down. At the community level, farms and meadows are disappearing to housing and retail tracts as developers buy off local officials.
Taking Steps Toward Making Change
In the midst of all this frantic grasping for more, our hearts are troubled. Too many of us are sad, addicted, or just scared. Too many feel no belonging in the midst of our belongings. In New American Dream’s recent nationwide poll, more than 9 out of 10 Americans agreed that as a society we are too focused on spending and working and not focused enough on family and community. And in the midst of the consuming and working, many Americans are just falling through the cracks. The federal government estimates that over 3.4 million Americans are coping with chronic hunger. The American dream is highly mortgaged and it’s time to turn things around.
Step number one is to get active. Regardless of political affiliation, seek out and support leaders who care about your values and issues. Go to one of the following websites and get involved: To register to prevent voters around the country from being disenfranchised, check out the Election Protection program at www.electionprotectionvolunteer.org; find even more volunteer opportunities at www.nationalvoice.org and www.electionmatch.org; or simply get involved with a local organization promoting voter education.
The second step is harder. We hear a lot about the red versus blue, city- dwellers versus rural folk, conservatives versus progressives. In my own experience, these boundaries are very porous, yet pundits and TV talk show hosts exacerbate the polarization. We are divided on some core questions but we cannot continue to fracture. We must transcend these fault lines and recognize that most of us want the same things: peace, respect, nature, freedom, community, security, and hope. Whoever wins in November, we still must build the alliances and partnerships that will get some laws passed and problems actually solved. Rhetorical and political mudslinging is not victory. Being “right” is not success. Perhaps with more kindness, empathetic listening, and respect for our differences, we can learn to solve problems together.
Finally, be sure to sign up as part of our New Dream Community at www.newdream.org/make/action (read more on page 14). Together, the members of our online action network have already made a positive impact — convincing companies to stock better products and adopt better practices, and urging elected leaders to pass good policies. We have even more ambitious goals for the coming year, but we’ll need your help!
Moving Forward
Change requires partnerships. Last year, New American Dream helped launch the National Voice, a coalition of nonprofit organizations dedicated to voter participation in 2004. This year, in association with The Natural Step, we assembled a leadership team of directors of environmental and sustainability groups — all dedicated to collaborative work (see page 5). As we move into the future, we are working to build our grassroots partners to turn our nation in a safer, healthier, more sustainable direction. So get political. Regardless of who wins in November, it’s time to build partnerships, articulate a clear vision of where we need to go, and get moving to implement solutions.
If the federal government continues to be dominated by monied interests and
polarized by partisan infighting, New American Dream will largely steer clear of
the policy arena. We will organize buyers to consume environmentally superior
products and organize citizens to press for change at the local and state
levels. We will raise a ruckus through communications and public events and we
will seek to educate youth. We will continue to help individuals become
authentically free by resisting excessive commercialism and the more-is-better
definition of happiness.
But ultimately our society must change the rules of the road. We must tax the bad and reward the good. Tax SUVs and provide more incentives for hybrids. Tax gas consumption and reduce taxes on work and payrolls. We should aspire to a shortened work week, a stronger social safety net, limits on advertising and junk mail, incentives to eliminate packaging and waste, and a fundamental realignment of federal budget priorities away from our bloated military budget and towards Social Security, public schools, and a range of other programs that will protect our nation’s treasures — our land and our children. The vision is not so hard to see — a nation cooperating with other nations, sharing resources, playing fairly by the rules, rewarding innovation, and penalizing greed. We can only get there if we start now.
Betsy Taylor is President of the Center for a New American Dream.