I am a long-time reader, infrequent commenter/poster on this site, and I am thankful to have found this place. It's been a real reprieve from the madness that otherwise surrounds us these days, and has often inspired me to remain hopeful that we can work together to change the current situation our country finds itself in. But I'm losing it.
I am a long-time reader, infrequent commenter/poster on this site, and I am thankful to have found this place. It's been a real reprieve from the madness that otherwise surrounds us these days, and has often inspired me to remain hopeful that we can work together to change the current situation our country finds itself in. But I'm losing it.
I'm a recent American expat to Iceland, where I moved with my (Icelandic) husband because I couldn't obtain health care coverage while I was pregnant and unemployed, due to my "pre-existing condition." I care very much about the future of the US, but I am at a loss as to what to do going forward, not only for 2012, but beyond that. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, but there seems to be so much focus on what is going wrong -- which is obviously necessary to make informed decisions -- but less of a focus on what we do about it.
I appreciate efforts to circulate petitions and hound our Congressmen and Congresswomen, but it almost feels silly to think that Congress will change the very mechanism to which it has become enslaved, regardless of political party.
So my questions are these: What other efforts are you seeing locally or nationally to actually effectuate change, to coordinate, to raise awareness, to act? What can I/we do to improve these efforts? **
And, I guess, from a larger angle, is it time that liberals rally for an alternative party to compete with the Democratic party (and Republicans, obviously)? Why or why not, and if yes, how do we act now?
I feel helpless and am quickly losing hope, and I imagine that at least some of you may be feeling the same. I want to take action other than/in addition to signing petitions, because it feels as though our voices simply aren't being heard anymore. I'm not inferring anything dangerous or illegal, but there are obviously peaceful means of protesting and having our voices heard.
** I realize that my geographic isolation makes it difficult for me to participate to some extent, but I'd be interesting in learning, generally, what we can do.