Blog entry 8 - Learning more about real-world politics

Blog entry 8 - Learning more about real-world politics

I participated in a webinar today from Indivisible, covering GOTV (Get Out The Vote).  It was interesting, and I wished I had taken it before canvassing on Saturday.  Instead of just handing out flyers, we could have engaged more, convincing people to vote who were on the fence.  Ah well... it's something I can get better at, clearly.  And I'm in this for the long haul now.  I hold no illusions that this country will be pulled back on course in a short period of time.  It's taken the Republicans a very small amount of time to do a lot of damage, but healing it will not be so fast.  In many ways, we've essentially been set back to where we were in the '90s.  At least, that's how it feels to me.  Meanwhile, the rest of the world moves forward.  But there's no divine right that America ought to somehow always advance.  Sometimes, we go backwards, and that's the way of the world.  I look at bright signs, like the fact that every other country on the planet is at least acknowledging the importance of addressing climate change, and that large parts of the US are doing so as well.  Progress isn't linear, nor necessarily in the right direction all the time.  But, if we keep trying to do better, eventually things will improve.  And our day-to-day lives are quite good.

I'm currently reading Factfulness, a book that Bill Gates highly recommends.  Maybe it's rubbing off on me a bit.  I'm convinced of the immense progress that has been made worldwide.  Sometimes with assistance from the US, but not always.  It does give me hope.