The internet has made communicating with politicians and corporations easier than ever, right? Just pop on your computer and send them an email or sign a few petitions. But I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s questioned how effective this cyber communication is in politics. We can easily send emails and sign petitions, but politicians and CEOs can just as easily (or, actually, even more easily) ignore them.
And they do.
I’m not against these petitions or this type of activism, and I even sign and share many such petitions every day, but the change possible from such action is limited — it doesn’t compare to what is needed to turn our country around and protect the world’s precious natural resources, which we rely on to live.
Americans want clean energy like solar and wind (real clean energy). They want polluters to pay and want the government to crack down on them more. They want climate change addressed and stopped. Instead of listening to citizens, however, politicians are listening to the big industry leaders and lobbyists who fund their campaigns (put them into office).
What Influences Voters?
Forget, for a moment, about the politicians. As I said, they are just listening to those who put them in office. But look at how they are put into office.
Of course, citizens have to vote for them. And citizens do, even though politicians aren’t going to do what the citizens request if it is against the will of big industry, because these citizens are somehow convinced that the politicians have the same interests in mind.
The are convinced of this because big industry has paid for them to produce commercials or other advertisements that tell them so.
However, once it comes time to delivering, who is watching what their politicians are doing? Who is calling them out when they go and do the exact opposite of what they said they’d do? Maybe some people online, but if you’re not tied into very specialized organizations or groups, that is likely to all be invisible to you. (And this is the scenario for the vast majority of Americans.)
Why We Need Direct Action
Emails, petitions, etc. get very limited attention, even if 100,000 people sent the email or signed the petition.
A 10-person rally will get the local news’ attention, though. And a 100-person rally will get even more coverage. And a 1,000-person rally will get national attention. This will get your message passed on to the 95%(?) of people who don’t stay informed on anything their politicians are doing. This can be as powerful as, or even more powerful than, the ads big industry buys for millions and millions of dollars.
This is our best chance of making politicians live up to their word and do their work on behalf of U.S. citizens, not big industry.
I think it’s time for a direct action comeback.
Related Stories:
- 350.org & Power Shift 2011 Take Aim at U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Funny Dancing Video & Insightful Commentary
- Money Pollution: How the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tries to Screw the U.S.
- Does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Speak for You {INFOGRAPHIC}
- Huge Environmental Organizations Merge (350.org & 1Sky) — My Thoughts
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce Doesn’t Speak for Me — How About You?
- Are You Acting Like a Coal or Oil Company CEO?
Photo via 350.org
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Zachary Shahan
If you couldn't guess, I spend most of my time on CleanTechnica and Planetsave. I'm the director/editor of both sites and am a little obsessed with them and the topics they cover. I'm also Publishing Services Manager at Important Media, which means that I do everything I can to support other Important Media writers, editors, and directors (as well as the network as a whole) in the good work they are engaged in. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Change.org, most of the sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. For more, or to connect, go to: zacharyshahan.com
7 Responses to It’s Time for a Direct Action Comeback! (Now)
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[...] And this backs up what we here on Planetsave have been promoting for a long time now — direct action and people [...]
[...] and citizen inaction, those most informed on the matter are turning to their last resort, strong direct action. The biggest green activism story of the year was clearly the blocking of a shoe-in climate [...]
[...] Even with a supposedly green administration, it’s clear that there is a huge, rich fossil fuel industry with a ton of control over our politicians. We have to keep the pressure on them all, keep them in a big, bright spotlight, if we are going to get the action we need to protect both future generations and ourselves. Petitions are great. They help out. But Direct Action is ‘where the money’ is. See: It’s Time for a Direct Action Comeback! (Now) [...]
[...] It’s Time for a Direct Action Comeback! (Now) [...]
[...] It’s time for direct action comeback. [...]
[...] there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic.Direct action, I think, is a true key to the change we need to make on environmental topics such as catastrophic, [...]
[...] It’s Time for a Direct Action Comeback! (Now) [...]