Never Give Up, Never Surrender

You already vote. Why should you join your local Democrats? (Or your other political party of choice, although this will focus on Democrats.) In no particular order:

1. Membership dues are a form of donation to support the infrastructure that will help elect more Democrats. (The annual dues for my group are barely $30.)

2. Meetings keep you up to date on local/down ballot elections and introduce you to up and coming politicians, which is awesome. You too can form an opinion on the candidates for county council! You can vote on whose candidacy your group should endorse! (2a. GOSSIP. Here's where you get the local political dirt, if that's your thing.)

3. You get to meet other local folks with similar views and goals. Solidarity, yo. We all are going to need that in these coming days.

4. You'll get on their mailing list, which means you'll get notifications of opportunities for volunteering and for interacting with local candidates and elected officials. If you've got something to say directly to your representative to the state house, for example, your local Democratic party will give you some of the best opportunities to do so (assuming she is a Democrat, of course).

5. They probably need help in running the group, and reorganization/officer elections are coming up in January. The severity of your local group's needs depends a lot on the demographics of your area, but for example, I live in a purple legislative district whose Dems are run largely by retirees with no technical skills, most of whom are stepping down from their positions. We are in desperate need of new blood: people who can run a website and a Twitter, who can canvass their districts and work on building up the info in our databases, who can approach local residents who might want to run for local office on the Democratic ticket. And those needs are likely to be even greater the redder your area is.

6. Even if your area is bluer or your party membership more robust than mine, your precinct might well need a Precinct Committee Officer to canvass and work with people in a very local area, such as your apartment complex.

Have I convinced you? Check if there is a Dems group (or other political party, if you prefer to put your efforts there) for your legislative district, or if not that, for your county. There are probably links to these from your state Dems website.

(This post is also available on Tumblr, if you find it useful and want to reblog.)