You just protested! ...now what?
A simple, handy guide on how to go from making signs to making a difference.
In dark times like these, the pull is stronger than ever to gather with our countrymen, exercise our right to free speech and reject the White House’s systematic dismantling of our country. On the US Army’s 250th birthday (a day that Trump badged as his own, as it happened to fall on his birthday) Americans braved the summer heat in record numbers for nationwide “No Kings” protests.
Protests are powerful. They make you feel connected to your community, whether it’s dozens of people in a park or thousands along a mile of popular highway. But protests are a tool and they have their functional limits when they aren’t being used to halt major components of political or capitalist machinery.
Many participants come home with their picket signs — thirsty, hungry, wet, sunburnt and exhausted — and wonder:
What can I do next?
How can I get involved in the bigger picture?
How do I put rubber to asphalt to get things done, to enact meaningful change for myself, my neighbors and my people?
With this simple guide, I’m going to point you to next steps on how to accomplish those very things. This is not all-inclusive — it can’t provide every resource because every city, county and state is different — but it will help point you to the mindset needed and, broadly, where to look to take action and get involved based on your level of commitment.
To rank the difficulty for these levels of involvement, we’ll be using the same scale as the legendary FPS classic from id Software, Wolfenstein 3D. Why Wolfenstein? Oh, no real reason. We just like the game.
Activists: drop your suggestions in the comments, too!
Difficulty Level: Can I Play, Daddy?
When dipping your toe into the political action pond, your best first step is to understand broad, federal issues. Because these rules and laws apply nationwide, they’re some of the easiest items to research and understand.
It’s easy to be cynical about this tier: lots of people only “activate” every four years for presidential elections, the first choice of a typically long ballot filled with a ton of other issues to think about. It’s only during these years that you’ll ever hear about the Green or Libertarian political parties or the names Jill Stein and Cornel West.
But the intense media spotlight that covers our presidential elections also allows federal laws and policies to get a ton of attention too. Laws are complicated — their consequences even more so — so having lots of news outlets, speculation and pundits trained on federal issues allows them to become easier for a layperson to understand. Likewise, federal candidates, whether it’s for the White House, Congress or some difficult-to-understand federal office, typically get enough of that spotlight that their opinions and positions are spelled out for everyone to see.
Some great things to explore in this tier are: Who are your senators and representatives in Congress? What is their jurisdiction, and who do they hear the most from? If you contact them about a federal issue, what is their response? How do they justify their positions for/against what you believe? What does that teach you about policy and how things work at the federal level?
Difficulty Level: Don’t Hurt Me
With a mind toward what’s happening politically on the biggest stages, the next step is to find your people.
Yeah, you may have family and friends, but they may not be primed for a discussion, much less an educated one, about politics. You already know how frustrating it is when people rely on hearsay or outright propaganda when they form their views about how things work in the world.
This may be you, too. And that’s okay! That’s what we’re trying to move away from now.
Protests are social gatherings, yes, but they’re temporary for a reason. Going from protest to practical action means connecting with people and not doing all this alone. After all, politics aren’t for individuals, they’re policy for the people at large. The word “politics” is literally from the Greek “citizen” and “city”.
There are so many places where you can find your people online through social media or through existing political groups, like political parties. Whether this is local to you (a local issues group or the county political party) or like-minded people on the internet, you should seek out people to learn from, but also commiserate with — and even challenge at times.
Where can you check? Social media, if you’re on it, is the easiest fit. Facebook, Bluesky, Reddit and others will typically have good search functions (or allow you to Google for them externally) where you can match interesting phrases. For example, if you’re into social justice, then “social justice <name of city>” on Facebook might get you somewhere. “Urban Planning <name of city>” on Bluesky might yield results if you’re one of those new urbanist beatniks, as will “LGBT <name of city>” if you’re elsewhere. You may also find your local Democratic party or Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) chapter may have links to groups and their meeting places, too.
The danger of some of these groups is that they are (or can easily become) political and ideological echo chambers where you can not only form poorly-informed opinions, but have them reinforced by others.
Some great things to explore in this tier are: Where do you reside politically? What do you believe? Are there groups that meet locally that you can drop in on? Are there bigger local events like Pride, where local political groups have booths set up so you can get more information or connect with people?
Difficulty Level: Bring ‘em on!
Politics start locally, but coming to grips with what’s going on in your literal backyard is much harder than understanding the nation-wide stuff that’s being blasted 24/7 over a plethora of news networks across the political spectrum.
If someone is running for a local office — whether mayor, council, county commissioner, school board, etc. — and they don’t have a web site to explain their positions, you may not know anything about them when their name appears on your ballot. Maybe the local newspaper will put out a questionnaire? Maybe the local news stations will host a debate?
How will you learn anything about local candidates unless you’re proactively doing the research on your own? Maybe you can find a local voters guide?
If you’re searching for partisan results that highlight a left-leaning slate, then the old weirdo alt-weekly publication — if your town still has one — or the local Democratic party — if they do endorsements — will usually provide a concise list of people to vote for.
If you’re on the fence and seeking a non-partisan guide, online sites like Ballotpedia, VOTE411.org (provided by the League of Women Voters) and the ACLU can provide suggestions. Your state or county will also provide a “blue book” guide regarding issues in particular with opinions written for and against initiatives while explaining what it may do as well as listing who’s on the upcoming ballot.
And then there’s all the local politics. Your city, county and even state is constantly doing stuff — stuff that, guaranteed, is very well documented but potentially hard to access and even harder to understand once you do find it. Local politics is boring and draconian; local governments may not have the easy ability to share information about upcoming events or town halls they’re putting on, so it’s often up to you to pick up the pieces and make sure they land in your calendar.
So what’s your reward for untangling and deciphering all this obscure hyper-local lore? Well, you get to understand why your streets have potholes, why that local park is going to be turned into a meat processing factory, why you can’t fire off fireworks in your own backyard, why traffic is bad, why police response times are so long, and so on.
Even if the politics of your neighborhood aren’t that interesting at first glance, nearly all of the people who end up ascending to your state capital, even Congress, are people who live nearby who decided to run for office one day. It benefits you to know who they are and why the laws they write are made the way they are … and maybe why it shouldn’t be that way.
Understanding your unique political geography and being able to shake hands with your local leadership gives you an advantage when you’re trying to explain local oddities to your neighbors … or the people commenting on social media. It will also help you advocate for solutions and policies that help the most people.
Once you’ve locked on to a candidate you want to get behind, you can volunteer directly for their campaign, or a supporting organization. Chances are, they’ll put you on a phone bank or have you knocking on doors. It may be hard to believe, but in the 2016 election, in the very last week of the campaign — roughly one in eight voters was still undecided.
By this point, you’ll have made some friends and know the lay of the land, but if you’re still not sure where your efforts are needed most, Crooked Media’s “Vote Save America” connects voters with local volunteer opportunities for progressive causes and politicians. They’ve also got a helpful toolkit, with talking points and other resources ready to go.
Some great things to explore in this tier are: Where do you reside geographically? Are you in a city or out in the county? If you’re in the city, who’s your councilperson? Your mayor? If you’re out in the county, who’s your county representative? Who represents you in the state capital, either as a representative or senator (if you even have them!)? What are some local issues that you’ve voted for recently — and who benefit from their success and defeat? What are some political issues in the mid-to-long term that you’ll be voting on?
With all that in place, we face the ultimate step, the hardest difficulty setting …
Difficulty Level: I AM DEATH INCARNATE!
Run for office.
Yep, that’s it.
You’ve done the protests. You know the players. You know the policies. You know the lay of the land geographically, socially and politically. You know the meeting schedules, the locations, the groups, the past, the present and the future.
With this set of knowledge, with this network of connections and supporters, running for office no longer seems like a superficial power grab (because there really isn’t that much power) or stab for fame (because political office is typically a thankless job with no shortage of sharp criticism), but a task you feel urged to participate in.
With all the work you’ve put in, you are now haunted with the knowledge of how to do it and a vision of what you’d do in the position … hopefully for the greater good.
Some great things to explore in this tier are: What office would you run for, given the opportunity? What would your platform be? What policies would you enact or would you change? Where are you willing to compromise — and where are you not? Who would you recruit to work with you? Who could give you honest feedback in a safe space?
So to recap things: develop a firm grasp of the national/federal issues. Find your tribe. Volunteer somewhere. Zero in on your local political scene. Run for office.
And finally: while evading fire from his dual chain guns, defeat mech suit Hitler and escape from Castle Wolfenstein.
Solid ranking scale. Well done!
Play like a girl. https://ruthslistfl.org/