If it feels like you and the people you know have no say over what happens in Washington, DC, that’s not an illusion. Research shows that ordinary people have close to zero influence on policymaking at the federal level while wealthy individuals and business-controlled interest groups hold substantial sway, according to an analysis published in Perspectives on Politics.
No wonder Americans are frustrated.
Two-thirds are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, according to Pew Research Center data. Almost as many feel that they are losing more than winning on the issues that matter to them.
We need stricter gun laws, say 62 percent of Americans in a Morning Consult poll, and 78 percent support mandatory licensing. Yet action is stalled.
More needs to be done about climate change, say 64 percent of US voters, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll. Seventy-five percent want to see carbon regulated as a pollutant. But federal policy is moving in the opposite direction.
We want government to be accountable to us, but here’s the rub. We don’t have the power to limit campaign spending — which 78 percent of Americans favor — according to a New York Times/CBS News Poll — or enact other policies that would make elected officials responsive to We the People instead of the big money interests.
So-called populists like Donald Trump tap into the frustration, and some — with a tolerance (or enthusiasm) for White supremacy — voted for him. But, with generals and Wall Street executives in the White House, the interests of ordinary people remain firmly outside decision-making circles. So how do we break through?
Two years ago, I took a road trip through 18 states, interviewing people about how they were making change. I visited struggling communities in the Rust Belt, Appalachia, Indian reservations, and the South, and everywhere I found people who were reimagining and rebuilding their communities, and feeling their power.
The people I visited were partnering up — immigrants and long-time residents, Black youth and elders, union workers and faith leaders — to make change where they live. They were blocking coal and gas projects and producing radio programs and theater productions that reflected a new story of what their communities value.
At the local level, government is more responsive. Seattle enacted a $15 minimum wage. California is moving forward on a climate policy that will adhere to the Paris Accord, with or without federal government involvement. Texas is closing eight prisons in six years, according to the Dallas News.
One of my co-workers at PeoplesHub, Melissa Rosario, lives in Puerto Rico and told me this story of a day following the hurricane. An elderly woman who lived alone was trapped when a sheet metal roof blew off an adjacent building and blocked the entrance to her home. A group of around 10 showed up to help. The woman laughed when she saw them. The helpers had nothing but a few hand tools and seemed unlikely to succeed, and neighbors advised them to wait for some big machinery. But together, they moved the debris. Then the neighbors brought over food and drink, and powerlessness turned to celebration.
Local power is by nature grounded — in ourselves, our values, and our family; in our community and culture; and in our ecological home. Archimedes said, “Give me a place to stand, and I can move the Earth.” When we have a strong and connected community, we have that place to stand.
And local power brings out joy. When people remove debris after a hurricane or give blood after a mass shooting, it makes them feel better.
Instead of getting burned out, frustrated, and isolated, when we gather, we get energized. The joy generated in those gatherings sustains and empowers us, and builds understanding across divides. And that local power, combined with the local power in other communities, is a foundation for changing things, nationally and globally.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy