Political Activism – 102

I am hearing a lot of chatter on the island about things people are not happy about.  Coyotes.  Street signs.  The new Parking Plan.  Lots of phone calls, emails and Facebook postings.

Only city council can pass ordinances that will effect change.  Period, end of story.

So, you basically have 2 options:

1. Run for city council, propose an ordinance, and get 5 of 9 councilmembers to vote for it.
2. Organize a sizable group of people to show up at council meetings and speak directly to council about their concerns.  Alternately, you can organize a petition drive.

Any, and everything else, while it may make you feel better, is not going to bring about change.

Here is what doesn’t work:

1. Posting a bunch of stuff on Facebook.
2. Sending out emails to all your friends.
3. Posting stuff on the website Nextdoor.
4. Calling an old IOPNA member to see if the IOPNA will lead the charge.  (For the record, the IOPNA has been dead for years – killed off by apathy.)

What do all the above methods that don’t work have in common?  They don’t require much, if any, effort.  You can use these tools to organize a petition drive or to get a group of people to speak before council, but anything else is wishful thinking.

You see, to change something takes effort.  And what most people are doing is putting their concerns out there and hoping someone else will run with the ball while they get back to watching some television show.

Again I repeat the words of Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert:  Passion is bullshit.  What matters is personal energy.