#19 - Contact a Government Official

I thought I was WAY behind schedule, but then I browsed my list, and um, duh, I already did some of these things. January was so discombobulating that apparently I had completely forgotten about my list and certainly that this was something I planned to do even before I knew all the chaos that was to befall us starting January 20, 2017.

I honestly can't remember what I called about, but I certainly remember calling Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth to express my support of whatever she was doing. See, the frustrating thing is that the elected officials from the area where I live are generally the ones already voting the way I'd prefer, and they are being vocal about their resistance in the harm being done at the national level. While I understand calls in support are also important, they feel useless. It's hard to feel like energy spent in that way is useful. It's especially frustrating since for the last 14 years, I've lived in Illinois, California, and Massachusetts, three states that, no matter which way I voted, were going to go blue in national elections and overwhelmingly vote in Democratic candidates, some of whom are fantastic and some of whom are mediocre or worse. Personally, I consider myself an independent even though I nearly always vote Democrat over Republican. I'd love to see more third party candidates, to slowly move out of this two-party system, and after the nonsense the Democrats have pulled politically lately, I don't want to support that party. But in those three states, votes for third party candidates matter about the same as Republican votes, which is to say, minimally.

Also frustrating, this past January and February, each time I called an office of an elected official outside of my geographic location, the lines were busy and they were not accepting messages. It's interesting that each elected official gets to decide how many calls they receive and whether or not to accept messages. It wasn't shocking though. Of course Paul Ryan doesn't want to hear from me. He's busy playing politics with people's lives. No time to listen to actual people. That's distracting from the goal: maintaining political power.

Now that I'm reflecting, I do think I should have been more active in contacting state elected officials regarding the budget crisis. I spend a little time with Witness Slips, which are an interesting concept. Maybe I'll keep that on my regular to-do list. But the state budget crisis directly affected people I know. Northeastern Illinois University lost full-time positions; people lost their jobs and students lost members of their support network. So many NEIU students are first generation, which makes those support networks especially important. MAP grant funding indirectly affected me as the funding didn't come through in the appropriate fiscal year and thus could not be used as intended at DePaul. Elected officials were playing politics with people's livelihoods and opportunities. After so much press about the violence in Chicago, I was furious to see local colleges affected so drastically. These are places that give Illinois residents from low-income areas and first generation students an opportunity to pursue higher education, which then empowers them to even more fully give back to the city. I could have, should have, been more actively vocal. I do intend to vote against every incumbent in the state legislature next time around, to do research on candidates and support those who support education (among other things), but I also promise, here, in writing, to contact those local/state elected officials instead of stewing in my own anger.