We all need to take a breath. Betsy DeVos was confirmed. Jeff Sessions was confirmed. Others nominees who we know aren’t fit will probably be confirmed. We knew this would happen. We knew. We, unfortunately, know that the other cabinet picks, however unqualified, inexperienced, crooked, or fraudulent will also be confirmed. The swamp isn’t being drained, the opposite is actually happening. The swamp is filled with more and more alligators and crocodiles dressed in expensive suits and asking for receipts for the positions they paid for. Regardless of that, we cannot allow the cabinet confirmations to stop us from continuing our fight. We cannot stop what we are doing because of this. We need to increase our pressure even more now. We have had successes within our protests.
- The Women’s March drew over 4.8 million protestors within 673 marches
- House Bill 621 by Congressman Jason Chaffetz was withdrawn when he felt the strong opposition from his constituents
- Constituents have been committed to calling their Congressmen on a consistent basis
- Phone lines are busy and voicemails full
- Constituents were so driven to have their voice heard, they had pizza sent with notes to their Congressman
It has been awesome to see the call to arms, and the dedicated people who are ready to fight for what they believe in. It will get tiring. It will seem as though nothing is working. It will feel as if our voices are not being heard. But we cannot get tired. The White House hopes outrage fatigue will occur to slow down the protests and calling. They hope to wear us down and back into silence. Outrage fatigue could occur if we spend all of our time fighting only the federal government. From our protests, we have come to see we have a president who does not care what the constituents say or do. However, what has been shown, is local and state governments do care. Those are the ones we need to be in contact with the most because they are the ones who will affect our lives every day.
We need to spend time fixing our own backyard. We need to have our voices heard by the local and state governments, that is where we will see the most change. Politics are not a sprint. We are not Usain Bolt winning the 100m after one protest, and democracy is ours again. I wish it worked that easy. But, the reality is that it doesn’t. Democracy is like a marathon. It is long, painful, full of hills, and a true feat of strength. We cannot be citizens who falter when we do not get what we want right away. We have too much history backing us up:
- Civil Rights Protest
- Women’s Suffrage
- Stonewall Riots
- Occupy Wall Street
We have a history of perseverance, of continuing to fight when we are bloody, bruised, and downtrodden. Take a look at this video of Heather Dorniden. We fall but we have to get back up and go even faster, even harder. We have to take the Betsy DeVos confirmation and keep moving. We have to take the Jeff Sessions confirmation and keep moving. Those confirmations will not affect us as much as the local and state do. The local school board elections will affect you more than the confirmation of Betsy DeVos.
The question now is what are you going to do? What are you going to do to help create change in your local government? What will you do within your local school system to help the students within it succeed? DeVos isn’t going to change parental involvement. How will you help? We can’t just be protestors. We have to be doers.
Robbie Couch wrote a great article entitled ” Betsy DeVos is our education secretary. Here’s what to do next.” Read it. Then take action. Volunteer. Donate. Do something. Get involved. We Have to take it into our own hands. If we sit back and allow the federal government to immobilize us then we aren’t truly about change. We are only about the look of protesting. Let’s make the actual change we want to see occur.
Here is a list of ways to start making change:
- Look at how you can get involved in your school district, regardless of if you have kids in school.
- Start going to the town halls, meetings, open houses, city council meetings, anything where voices and opinions can be heard.
- Get to know what is important to your mayor, city council, and boards. Listen to them. We have been ignorant for too long. We have not paid attention for too long.
- Start getting in touch with your local and state officials if you haven’t already. Let them know how you feel about important issues, and not just issues that only affect you.
- Continue calling and writing to your senators and representatives.
We will win this. We have so much more power than we could even believe. We can use our voice to make our governments, and Congressman to hear us. This will be a long process people and we have to be mentally prepared for it. But, after seeing the work we have been putting in, I have no doubt we will be successful in taking back our government, having a voice, and creating change.
Now get out there and be heard!
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