1. Vote consistently - not just in presidential elections
2. Stay informed - access media sources from all sides of the political spectrum
3. Be aware of local politics; city / county / state issues can be very impactful to you
4. Communicate with your elected officials - write letters if you can make the time to do so, try to make them clearly hand-created so they won't be dismissed as spam. Call if you can't find time to write. E-mail if needed. In general, the more effort a communication appears to have taken, the more you will be deemed to care about whatever you are communicating.
5. Talk to other people in your lives about the issues that matter to you. This is hard to do and not everyone will listen. Some things that help me in such discussions include
a. Think ahead of time what point you want to make and try to only discuss one topic at a time
b. Understand the difference between facts and emotion and decide ahead of time which you will be discussing
c. Discuss how you feel about issues and why, refrain from telling others how they should feel about issues. Instead, after you have spoken, ask them how they feel about the issue you brought up
d. Hold yourself to the same standard of listening as you are holding the person on the other side to
e. Always be looking for even some small thing that you can agree on with the person you are talking to
f. If someone wants you in their life, they don't have to agree with you, but they do have to hear your concerns. If you insist they agree with you or else you can't have them in your life, imo that's on you, not them. If they won't even listen to you, imo that's on them.
6. Always keep in mind the top 2 or 3 things that you don't agree with regarding your own political parties views or policies or actions. If you can't think of at least 2 things off the top of your head, this is a warning sign you are in your own echo chamber.
Comments on these items and other best practice items very welcome!
2. Stay informed - access media sources from all sides of the political spectrum
3. Be aware of local politics; city / county / state issues can be very impactful to you
4. Communicate with your elected officials - write letters if you can make the time to do so, try to make them clearly hand-created so they won't be dismissed as spam. Call if you can't find time to write. E-mail if needed. In general, the more effort a communication appears to have taken, the more you will be deemed to care about whatever you are communicating.
5. Talk to other people in your lives about the issues that matter to you. This is hard to do and not everyone will listen. Some things that help me in such discussions include
a. Think ahead of time what point you want to make and try to only discuss one topic at a time
b. Understand the difference between facts and emotion and decide ahead of time which you will be discussing
c. Discuss how you feel about issues and why, refrain from telling others how they should feel about issues. Instead, after you have spoken, ask them how they feel about the issue you brought up
d. Hold yourself to the same standard of listening as you are holding the person on the other side to
e. Always be looking for even some small thing that you can agree on with the person you are talking to
f. If someone wants you in their life, they don't have to agree with you, but they do have to hear your concerns. If you insist they agree with you or else you can't have them in your life, imo that's on you, not them. If they won't even listen to you, imo that's on them.
6. Always keep in mind the top 2 or 3 things that you don't agree with regarding your own political parties views or policies or actions. If you can't think of at least 2 things off the top of your head, this is a warning sign you are in your own echo chamber.
Comments on these items and other best practice items very welcome!