10.17
#1 BECOME INFORMED
-You can NOT discuss points and influence people if you do not know what you are talking about. If you ever ask someone why they feel the way they do about something and the response is,”Well just because”, that person is a political sheep. DON’T BE THAT PERSON!
-Change your default home page to something besides MSN.com!
-Find some news outlets you like and bookmark them. I read Wall Street Journal, Stratfor and a few others.
-Find ways to keep up with what your Seantors and Reps are doing. They all have their own websites, bookmark them. Congress.org is a great resource.
-Make staying informed part of your daily routine. Instead of flipping channels while you drink your morning coffee, get up to speed on what is going on. I mean, it’s just your life. If you want to go through it with your head in the sand, that is your call =P
-If you own an Iphone, you have a wealth of information available to you! On my Iphone I have news apps, congress trackers, spending trackers and even the Constitution.
#2 START TO FLEX YOUR NEW FOUND EMPOWERMENT
-Through my conversations with people, I have found that most have never called their Senator or Representative. Some are even intimidated by the idea.
-The people that answer the phones are paid by your tax dollars to answer your questions. Be polite, but understand the system.
-Throw yourself some softballs. Would you like to know where your guy stands on something? Call and ask! Identify yourself as a registered voter from their district, take notes and say thank you. You can always do some research and then call back with some follow up questions. If you do not agree with your guy, ask to leave a message asking him to reconsider.
#3 CHALLENGE PEOPLE
-I am going to start #3 off with some disclaimers:
—Be ready to take your lumps. Learn where you are losing debates, reload on info and go back for more. Dont get discouraged.
—Never think that anyone will share your views in casual conversation. This is a quick way to have a “foot-in-mouth” moment.
—I generally stay away from politics at work. If someone challenges you, offer to discuss after work.
—Patriotic and economic topics are easier to debate. That is what FTS generally focuses on.
—Wander into religion, abortion, sexuality, etc at your own risk! These are more emotional topics that are never calmly discussed. FTS will not touch these for this reason!
-Now that I have the disclaimers out of the way, the biggest thing I can reitterate is that you will most likely not be a debate team all-star out of the gates. Nor should you be. Your goal should be to become an informed citizen that can have informed conversations. Like I said earlier, strive to NOT be one of those people that responds with, “just because” as their answer.
#4 GET ACTIVE!!!
This is the ultimate goal of FTS. FTS is also a product of #4 =)
-Take a hobby or something that interest you and apply it to being active. Messing with websites has been a hobby of mine so FTS made sense.
-I cant tell you exactly what to do, I can only share my personal experience. Reading this page was a good start though!
-I have a list of websites I check everyday for news.
-I have a list of local newspapers, tv stations and groups that I forward information to when I feel my guys are not acting in the best interest of the people. Letters to the editor do get published!
-I have found people with similar fundamentals as myself to help contribute to the website and have good conversation with. Two (or 2000) heads are better than one.
In closing, do not get discouraged. I am personally a fan of the American can-do way. Some may say “your vote doesnt matter” or “you are wasting your time”. And statistically they could be right. But like Eric Byrnes said,”Hustle everyday, hustle on every play and good things will happen”.
