Next midterms, put your money where your mouth is

It’s easy to go on Chambers and talk politics all day. It’s harder to put your hand in your wallet, and actually do something about it. <br><br>I’ve donated $500 to act blue, and $150 to my local democratic party in Texas, as well 5 hours of my time per week to help people get out and vote. I’m not rich, but I think this is the most powerful way I can vote. <br><br>I’m young (25), so I don’t have the network or the experience to run a campaign myself, but I know that my local democratic party has access to a wealth of information on how to get people on my side out to vote. <br><br>People my age are historically terrible voters. I also know a lot of people in the communities that the democratic party cares about who are just exhausted and don’t want to vote anymore because they don’t feel like it makes a difference. <br><br>I’m also not very good at finding people who agree with me and convincing them to vote. It’s much smarter for me to donate a couple of hours a week to a group of people who are much more experienced in this than I am. They can show me where my time and money can best be spent, and teach me how to effectively talk to people I don’t know and convince them to vote. <br><br>I’ve donated $500 to act blue. It’s a democratic fundraising tool that splits donations equally between the campaigns of every democratic candidate for house, senate, and midterms. I know that 100% of my donation is going straight into the campaigns, not fundraising or bureaucracy. <br><br>I’ve also donated $150 to my local democratic party in Texas, because I know they need help with canvassing, and I know that they have much more experience than I do in talking to people I don’t know about voting. <br><br>I’m also donating 5 hours a week of my time. I’m a software engineer, so I make good money. I can afford to donate 5 hours a week of my time, but I’m also not a professional campaigner. I know that my time will be worth much more if I donate it through another agency. <br><br>I’ve chosen my local democratic party for 3 mains reasons. <br><br>1. It’s close to home. I’m much more experienced in talking to people in my area, and I know how they will react to me. If I were to go to a place I don’t know, I would have to find people who agree with me, or learn to talk to people who don’t know me. <br><br>2. It’s personal. I know that my local democratic party will put me in touch with other people in my community who I already have personal relationships with. I know that I’m already friends with and have built up trust with people who the democratic party cares about. They trust me, and I can use that trust to get them to vote. <br><br>3. It’s powerful. I’m much more likely to be able to convince my friends who haven’t voted in a while to vote again if I can talk to them about what they care about and why it matters to me. I know that my friends are more likely to vote if I’m personally asking them to vote, and if I can show them what the democrats have done that benefits them, they’ll be more likely to vote democratic. <br><br>If you care about this, put your money where your mouth is. Democrats have been real champions for people like me, and I want them to keep winning.