What Now? | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Politics

What Now?

What you can do to make an impact after the election

14
What Now?
SBR

The outcome of the election can leave you feeling a little sad, a little mad, or completely furious, or you could be one of those people who is happy. If you're happy with the outcome of the election, then you can just sit back and relax and coast for the next four years. If you're not happy with the way things turned out, there are things you can do to make a difference. May it be joining groups or writing your local and state representatives, you can still have an impact. But what now?

The first thing to do would be to join an interest group. An interest group is an organized group of individuals sharing common objectives who actively attempt to influence policymakers. You could join an interest group or even start your own if you can't find one in your local community. Interest groups are usually started by mass social movements, which are movements that represent the demands of a large group of the public for political, economic, or social change.

There are different kinds of interest groups, which include, economic interest groups, which covers business, agriculture, and labor. There are environmental groups and public-interest groups. There are also other interest groups such as ideological groups and identity groups. Identity groups include the NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and NOW, the National Organization for Women.

Finding an interest group and taking part could potentially make a change. Joining on campus clubs would also be a form of an interest group if the club is trying to make a change, even if the change is just on college campuses.

Another thing to do would be to become a lobbyist. A lobbyist is defined as an organization or individual who attempts to influence legislation and the administrative decisions of government. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 defined a lobbyist as anyone who spends at least 20 percent of his or her time lobbying members of Congress, their staffs, or executive-branch officials. With lobbying, you can write your state representatives letters or even send them petitions you have had signed. When communicating with your state's representatives, you are showing concern for specific things and can even make a difference if you stick with it enough.

You can find a list of all representatives and your local representatives here. You don't have to be a lobbyist to write to Congress, you don't have to spend 20 percent of your time lobbying Congress, but you can still communicate with them.

The most important thing you can do is to be educated on what is going on in your local, state, and national governments. Watching the news or reading the news, especially local newspapers, are a great way of keeping up with things. There are news outlets that are biased towards either Republicans or Democrats. Fox News tends to be more Republican, while CNN tends to be more Democratic. It's best to find sources from both sides to compare and to see what is really going on, even if you are biased towards one side or the other yourself.

Keeping friends and family educated on what is going on, especially if they don't keep up with politics, is a way to make a difference. The more people that become educated on what is happening in their government can make a huge impact on what happens with the government. The more informed people are, the more likely they are to vote too. Even if you are biased towards one side or the other, you should still talk about what your concerns are with the current government.

Even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, Donald Trump won the presidential election. At this point, there's nothing to be done about it, as he hasn't even taken office yet. Protesting against Donald Trump won't help anything. Presidents can only be impeached if the president is guilty of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. No president in United States history has been impeached and convicted. Andrew Johnson, who was impeached by the House but acquitted by the Senate which left him as president, and Richard Nixon, who resigned because he had no hope of surviving the trial in the Senate, are the only presidents in history to be brought up for impeachment.

At this time, all we can do is hope for the best, start educating ourselves and start meeting with people with the same concerns.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
ross geller
YouTube

As college students, we are all familiar with the horror show that is course registration week. Whether you are an incoming freshman or selecting classes for your last semester, I am certain that you can relate to how traumatic this can be.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

Bonus points if it is more than two.

Keep Reading...Show less
Student Life

12 Things I Learned my Freshmen Year of College

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

3992
friends

Whether you're commuting or dorming, your first year of college is a huge adjustment. The transition from living with parents to being on my own was an experience I couldn't have even imagined- both a good and a bad thing. Here's a personal archive of a few of the things I learned after going away for the first time.

Keep Reading...Show less
Featured

Economic Benefits of Higher Wages

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

302806
Illistrated image of people crowded with banners to support a cause
StableDiffusion

Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage would not only benefit workers and their families, it would also have positive impacts on the economy and society. Studies have shown that by increasing the minimum wage, poverty and inequality can be reduced by enabling workers to meet their basic needs and reducing income disparities.

I come from a low-income family. A family, like many others in the United States, which has lived paycheck to paycheck. My family and other families in my community have been trying to make ends meet by living on the minimum wage. We are proof that it doesn't work.

Keep Reading...Show less
blank paper
Allena Tapia

As an English Major in college, I have a lot of writing and especially creative writing pieces that I work on throughout the semester and sometimes, I'll find it hard to get the motivation to type a few pages and the thought process that goes behind it. These are eleven thoughts that I have as a writer while writing my stories.

Keep Reading...Show less
April Ludgate

Every college student knows and understands the struggle of forcing themselves to continue to care about school. Between the piles of homework, the hours of studying and the painfully long lectures, the desire to dropout is something that is constantly weighing on each and every one of us, but the glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel helps to keep us motivated. While we are somehow managing to stay enrolled and (semi) alert, that does not mean that our inner-demons aren't telling us otherwise, and who is better to explain inner-demons than the beloved April Ludgate herself? Because of her dark-spirit and lack of filter, April has successfully been able to describe the emotional roller-coaster that is college on at least 13 different occasions and here they are.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments