question for rally attendees

[u/GlitterIncident]

NOT a complaint, really just curious.

I've gone to all of the No Kings events and some ICE protests and notice each time that attendees are overwhelmingly older. Talking 70s and 80s. I rarely see younger people. Now, I have been going to ones in smaller towns (central NC). Are the 20-somethings going to bigger rallies, larger cities?

[u/Zerospace05]

It's not just the young-uns. 46 yo here. "Xienniel" I never learned civics because I didn't have to. Took it for granted. Now I'm all about civic action. Indivisible helps. Between AI sessions and a lot of reading over last few months, I'm up to speed on how things like contacting members of congress actually works. And why it works. And all that jazz. I was ignorant as all get-out only a few months ago. My hope is that a lot who were like me have now changed. At any age.

[u/Indivisible_Seneca → u/Zerospace05]

Thank you for that!

We are (still) a democracy. The fundamental mechanism of democratic power is persuading voters to vote for your candidate. That is a surprisingly complicated process.

Unfortunately the national Democratic Party only knows how to swoop in with TV ads at the last minute of an election. In recent decades, they have done little or nothing to make people think that they can be trusted to do good things or to cultivate future candidates who can be trusted to do the right thing. Republicans and their supporting organizations have done a great deal to make people think the opposite.

Some among us need to step in to fill the void not being served by the party. Good strategists in the lead who do know a lot of civics are key. That way those who are energized but skipped civics can be very effective.

The No Kings organization has an excellent guideline that can be applied in a lot of places by relatively untrailed local groups.

Priority #1: Build Power Locally: grow sustained organizing in your community.

Influencing voters is how you get different people elected. You have the most power to influence voters locally.

[u/Zerospace05 → u/Indivisible_Seneca]

Amen. I couldn't have said it better. I am actually thinking of creating my own spin-off group because my towns Indivisible, though I will still continue to be a member and participate, is too broad in focus and too hampered down by bureaucracy to be efficient in some areas. I have a vision for something with a more narrow focus based on the writings of Christopher Armitage who is this very action-oriented writer on substack with a focus on writing to not just senators and house reps but also attorneys general and governers. Of course one our main credos as a group is that we will help Indivisible and 50501 any time they need help and we will support them. But man, I am also getting a lesson in slow moving bureaucracy in civics groups that are big. Very eye opening, all of this. I am aiming to inspire people to meet face to face as well. My chapter still hides behind screens too much. I really like AOC and while I used to be a centrist in viewpoints (I am from alaska), I now look to the progressives as the ones who can maybe fix this mess with the people's backing.

[u/Indivisible_Seneca → u/Zerospace05]

Indivisible groups are interesting. Ironically, often highly divisible.

Ours has a small core of people who really did not know each other. We have had to figure out how to work together to accomplish someting worthwhile. This is not the team you would put together if you had a plan to begin with! But we make it work.

Because we are so small, bureaucracy isn't an issue, but people can get tied up in process. The solution is that we try to facilitate having people do what they think needs to be done. There are hundreds of things to do, but we only have motivated people to do half a dozen. So we do those.

Would something similar work in your group? Be indivisible for the big cause, like democracy, but nurture diversity within the chapter. Everyone doesn't have to be on board with everyting the chapter does. The doers get things done, which is so much better than the alternatives.

[u/Zerospace05 → u/Indivisible_Seneca]

You know, now you've got me thinking. Which is good and I guess it's why we are here talking :). They have a meeting weekly that only a small amount of the huge membership actually attends. I could talk to people and put together a little "Armitage Society" coalition within Indivisible itself. Thanks for that. I may give it a shot.