I was recently thinking of running for office within my locality. I would probably have to run under the purview of the Democratic party purely because of the outreach and funding. However, I despise the Democratic Party and have felt we need to do away with it due to it's radioactive nature (especially within my y'all queda red territory). In my eyes now there are no good politicians as there are no good cops. I feel as though working within the systems rules has become cyclical. We have to work with what we are given because it is all we have, democrats get elected, nothing drastically changes, rinse and repeat. Each local position is restrained in ehat they can do.
I had went to this town hall meeting where ex democrat representatives were speaking (our currently elected republican representatives are not holding town halls so these ex-representatives stepped up to listen to people's concerns) about a month ago and spoke my piece about organizing and making sure your neighbors are ok. I also spoke on organizing a general strike. That seemed to resonate with a lot of people. I had many people come up to me after and tell me I should run for office immediately. Especially because of how young I am. Though I am conflicted.
I feel as though we needed to create a new party, but now we don't have time for that type of organization. Climate change is a real threat that isn't talked about and engaged with as much as it needs to be. Time is running out. I feel as though now is the time to build up grassroots mutual aid movements to make people less reliant on the systems in place (growing food, talking to neighbors and making sure they are ok, etc.) However, there is still some part of me that is screaming these positions are important only because of the potential opponents that can take the reigns instead.
So my question is comrades, do we keep working within the cyclical bounds of the system, do we ditch it and focus on your community, do we do both?
Thank you for your time.
Anarchist here. I don’t think there’s a one size fits all answer to this— in some adequately rural towns you can have a real impact engaging in local politics.
In most mid-size cities working in local government will feel like pulling teeth and you won’t be able to accomplish anything you want to. You will also be working alongside people who want to be career politicians.
Personally I think your energy is usually better spent organizing to address local issues directly. Even if you start small (filling potholes or cleaning up a park) I feel community work often snowballs in a positive direction because accomplishing small things can help remind people that they can just take responsibility for things they want to see changed. Conventional politics seems to lean towards the idea that you’re outsourcing your responsibility at the ballot box, which would be excellent if representatives actually shouldered your responsibilities, but they usually do not (and probably could not) and we end up with a sort of responsibility vacuum where things are bad and no one feels personal responsibility to fix them.