March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963
Many people at this very moment are hating Donald Trump. They’re criticizing him on Twitter (his favorite insult forum), Facebook and other social media. They’re commiserating with their friends and co-workers by telling each other what a disaster Trump is or mentioning Trump’s latest move with disdain or despair. These folks should ask themselves what their goal really is. If their goal is to turn America around and effect positive change once again, then perhaps a more positive approach is called for.
We will stipulate three things: First, yes, there is plenty about which to criticize the Trump administration. The list is too long to include here, but Trump and his Republican colleagues want to reverse the civil rights, economic and other progress of Barack Obama‘s presidency, as well as positive change made under Democratic leadership in the New Deal and the Great Society, for the past 80 years. Second, one must clearly recognize a problem before solving it. Third, millions of Americans are still in shock, and the stages of grief, over Trump’s election.
Nevertheless, if the goal is to effect positive change for America and the world, a good time to start would be now. Most of the people who are credited with having changed the world in a good way — Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Abraham Lincoln, Sir Isaac Newton, you name it — visualized a positive outcome, and stayed focused on working towards that outcome.
Accordingly, now would be a good time to start thinking about positive steps to take to reverse the Trump administration and get us back on track to a more just society in which we make progress on big issues. These steps could include, for example:
- Voter registration drives
- Running for local, statewide or even national office
- Supporting like-minded political candidates
- Joining political advocacy groups
- Donating to political advocacy groups
- Researching the political stance of companies and adjusting one’s shopping habits accordingly
- Using social media to spread constructive messages of change
- Contacting the offices of your elected representatives in person, by phone, by mail or email regarding particular issues
- Getting on the email lists of organizations that create and distribute petitions on issues
There are many more examples of what can be done starting right now to get us on a path back to the country and the world we want to have.
Photo by Archives Foundation, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/6vCy0s
