Edward Abbey said "Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul." And I think that's true.
Unfortunately, it can be very hard to actually get up off the chair and work for what you care about. It shouldn't be hard, indeed it's what makes a life, but it is hard nonetheless.
I think sometimes we need a guideline or a measurement in order to put our own behavior into context. So I propose this: the number of hours you spend online, learning, raging, thinking, and worrying about politics and the world situation in general, is a good measure for how much you care. And the number of hours you spend on the ground, talking to neighbors, writing a letter to the editor, canvassing a neighborhood, or standing up with a local union against corruption and greed, is a measure for how much you work.
A little more below, then the poll.
Today is Memorial Day, the day we remember those who fought for our country and her people. Nothing is more true, more good, and more beautiful than fighting for what you believe in.
Of course, in order to fight you must be trained, and that's what we are all doing here at dailykos: learning about what's going on in the world. So it's a tough thing to know how much we should train and learn, and how much we should go out and do.
Well, in 2004, I asked myself that very question one day. Out of the blue, I came up with 100-to-1. It was a random choice, but somehow it seemed clear that you should be doing at least an hour of work for every 100 hours you spend on line. That sentiment later became my sig line on dailykos.
So how much do I actually do? It's a bit embarrassing. I think I spend about 1.5 hours per day online, thinking about politics and the world situation. And every two years, I call my senators a few times, I canvass and phone bank for a few days, and maybe I help out my union a little bit. In total, I think that comes to about 60 hours (and that includes driving to canvassing sites!)
It can be a bit hard to estimate how many hours you spend "on the ground" every two years, but just make a guess. And don't worry about rounding -- it shouldn't make a big difference. It can also be hard to determine what should "count" as action; again, just use your best judgement. So here's the formula that you can use to answer the poll below.
H-online = number of hours you spend per day online reading or writing about politics and the world situation.
H-ground = number of hours you spend every two year cycle: away from your daily routine, outside your "comfort zone", trying to fight for what you believe in. And the formula is.....
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RATIO = 700*(H-online) / (H-ground)
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What's that, you want to know mine?
Well, I think I spend an average of about 1.5 hours online every day, and I think I spent about 60 hours canvassing, phone-banking, etc. So...
700*1.5 = 1000, 1000/60=16. That means I spend 1 hour on the ground for every 16 I spend online.
Hey, not bad! I honestly thought it would be worse.
By the way, this poll isn't a contest (it's anonymous!), but let's just see how our community fares.