How to Get Interested and Participate In Politics

If you’ve not always been a huge fan of politics, it can seem like an overwhelming topic to get involved in later in life. Individuals have a lot more power in politics than they often realize, so it is vital to increase your awareness, educate yourself and participate, as your actions will make a difference to society. Here are some top tips that will boost your interest, knowledge and participation in politics. 

Educate yourself 

Learning the basic systems, and people in power is a great place to start. You should start by understanding the structure of the government and how it works, as the power is divided between federal and state. The federal government comprises the executive branch (the president and cabinet), the judiciary and the chambers of the United States Congress and is in charge of lawmaking, law enforcement, taxation, foreign affairs and much more. The State government looks after their assigned State and is in charge of public health and safety. There is also the House of Representatives, the Senate and the judiciary. The internet is a great place to get started with diving into this knowledge. You can even go as deep as learning about the lives of the individuals in power, for example, member of the Republican party Mitch McConnell’s approximate net worth, bio and experience, to help you make better decisions. When you better understand how the systems work, you can start to see what areas interest you, and what areas you feel you can invoke positive change or contributions. You can also share your knowledge with others to help them better understand, including introducing politics to your children from a young age.

Go out and vote

Once you have educated yourself on the people in power, casting your vote is important. Unfortunately, in recent years, voter turnout has been pretty low. The more that individuals realize how much difference their vote makes, the more people may turn out to vote. If you can go and vote, you will act as a positive role model for others to get out and do the same. It is also a great way for you to engage in democracy and express your beliefs. Make sure you understand what you need to do to vote, for example, if you need to register, what method of voting you prefer, what identification and documents will you need to take with you, etc. 

Be active 

If you find areas that you want to learn more about, want to invoke change, or are passionate about, then there are a plethora of ways you can be active in politics. The actions you take will entirely depend on your beliefs, as well as the time, dedication and interest that you have. One option is to lobby the lawmakers. This is a great way to speak directly to the elected individuals who are there to represent you and tell them what matters to their constituents. To do this, you can make phone calls to a member of Congress or the relevant aide, write letters, and go to the local town meetings. You can also get involved by finding or making your own group or movement on topics that you are passionate about, create pages on social media to get creative and spread more awareness, get involved in protests or even volunteer in your local candidate’s campaign office. This can make your participation much more interesting and get yourself more involved rather than sitting back and just watching politics on television. 

Get directly involved 

The best way to get your political beliefs at the table and fully immerse yourself into politics is to run for office or encourage someone within your group too. Politics is all about individuals making decisions in the name of other individuals, which means if you want true change, then you need to make a difference to the individuals who are making those decisions and policies. To get started, you can run for your local office, which would provide you with the authority over a wide range of issues that impact day-to-day life, such as police officers, schools, road safety, and much more. However, to run successfully, you must first create a strategy and identify a problem that you want to solve. Spend some time in the community to get to know the people you want to represent, and build your network. This will also help feed your strategy, as you learn about what your message will be, how you can raise money, what voters you should target and how you can reach them when you head out canvassing.

Getting involved in politics can be a great way to invoke positive change in society. There are several ways you can get involved, from simply educating yourself and turning up to vote, to lobbying or even running for your local office.