Some people are talking about that but honestly you have to start with building coalitions and groups, and lobby for all the policies in between elections, it can't just be November every 2 years.
These people are working on it and you should talk to them: http://www.sfyimby.org/. Also SFHAC, East Bay Forward.
Start by voting. Read those tedious propositions and those small offices, and vote on every one of them. Supervisor Julie Christensen was pushed out by anti-housing Aaron Peskin with the approval of 12% of District 3’s residents. And don’t take the shortcut of just voting whichever way your Democrat or Republican voters guide tells you to vote.
Join, or at least follow, a political action group like SFBARF[0]. And when they mention some special committee, then don’t just go to a couple meetings and otherwise leave it alone. You’re supposed to be part of the community. Actually learn from and provide your own input to that community.
If you have some free time, then find what else the SF Planning Department has been doing[1], and attend their public hearings.
I could certainly support that. I have suggested to all the folks I've talked with and supported for election that they consider taking a pledge to remove one law per quarter and that would win my vote for re-election.
I nearly ran for congress in 2010, it is still on my list of things to do. The only thing that stopped me that time was figuring out the dynamics was taking longer than I had. I no interest in offering just a random name on the ballot and putting together something of a platform took longer than I expected. In some ways I chickened out when it came to sending the FEC money. My reasoning was the paperwork burden I was about to incur vs that possible outcomes. At the time I was going to run as a Republican although the California party had already said that my views on Gay marriage (for) and abortion (pro choice) made me "unsuitable" for their support. Too late to create a 'new' party, and unlikely to make it through the primaries as an "off" ticket, didn't bode well. Instead I used the time to try to learn more about the underlying processes. Starting out targeting congress is a pretty low percentage move unless you're a Kennedy. :-)
Voting once every two or four years and ceding policy to the politicians in the meantime is a recipe for the kind of bipartisan nonsense that pervades the US government. If you want things to get better, you need to get involved between elections.
Nice idea, but is there any race at any level in SV/CA that's actually competitive? The "let's take action" narrative rings a bit hollow when you could empty out every office in the Bay Area and wind up with exactly the same elected officials that you would have if everyone stayed home.
It is very common in the Bay Area (the subject of this article) for former school people to run for political office. Especially on the far left of the political spectrum. It is a real problem.
Alternatively, get involved in the city Democratic clubs and county central committees here in California. Politicians do pay attention to people who organize fundraisers for them, and the local groups are where the next generation of politicians are picked. Politics is a lot like science in that regard: policies last until their supporters die, or are term-limited.
How do we reduce corporatocracy and regulatory capture?
There are elections coming up in November. You'll have at least 2 federal races on the ballot. Figure out where the candidates stand with regards to corporatocracy and regulatory capture and vote accordingly.
If you don't like where any of the candidates stand, there will be another election in 2 years. In the mean time, let the candidates know how you feel. Donate to, or volunteer for the candidates who you want to win.
Before you go smashing things, you could do some of the basics like electing pro-housing people, show up at public hearings to say 'yes!' to housing, write letters to the editor and all that kind of thing.
I'm not sure if it's too late but consider registering as a Democrat so you can vote on the DCCC appointments since the DCCC endorsements have a fair amount of sway in elections. See: http://www.sfyimby.org/slate/
Interesting proposition. Seems like a no brainer given the dynamic of things today — the biggest problem is connecting the right candidate with the right opportunity, and half the time it's an awareness problem whereby the right candidate isn't aware of the opportunity b/c they don't sit in the bay area to hear about things through traditional channels.
This problem is solvable, but not by a single person acting alone - we have to build a movement, and being the actual candidate in office is far from the only role. Getting sympathetic candidates elected is one of the later steps in a long process. Before that, we need lots of people working on movement building, small fights, activism, research, organizing... there's so much to be done!
I'm part of a group working on this problem in NYC. If you (or anyone else reading this) are in New York and potentially interested in helping, shoot me an email! (my HN username at gmail dot com)
Well Feinstein's not up until 2018 (if she runs again, I guess), so you have time. But really trying to run for Senate is a multi-year process. You ultimately have to convince hundreds or thousands of people to volunteer for you, and round up millions (if not tens of millions) in cash. Especially in California - it's literally a tenth the size of the country population-wise, so you're basically running a race that's a tenth the size of a Presidential campaign. In the Primary alone you're going to need 600K or so votes at least.
To do those things (recruit volunteers, bring in donations, get attention) you need to start in advance by networking, building contacts and gathering favors. You should get involved now in the local House race or a county/statehouse race to start that process or at least to get familiar with the political process or how people commonly run campaigns. A lot of people sort of subscribe to the notion that politics is or should be simple, but the reality is that you have to know what you're doing to be effective. Charisma and ideas only get you so far.
Get involved in local politics. Go to community meetings. Learn who has power and start building your own. These kinds of things take years.
If you don't want to do that, at least start donating to local politicians who you agree with, volunteer for them, tell your friends to vote for them. Local races are often won by dozens to hundreds of votes. You can easily swing that. And don't focus on "highest value" work. Door-to-door canvassing is more important than any code you can write.
These people are working on it and you should talk to them: http://www.sfyimby.org/. Also SFHAC, East Bay Forward.
reply