Acceptance Doesn't Mean Surrender

January 7, 2017 In the last few days, I’ve gotten some interesting feedback on this blogging. One friend sent me a booklet—26 pages—on how to be a citizen lobbyist. It’s a great summary, and includes pages on how to find out about issues at the capitol, how to find your representative, how to make an appointment and visit, how to write letters—the kind of establishing-a-relationship-with-your-elected-officials stuff that we all need to know. It was, as I said, a great summary and something I’d send on to lots of friends BUT it begins with a solid 4 pages of angry rhetoric against the president elect, against voters, against the whole system. Knowing that the guy who sent it is angry, but a friend, I kept on reading until I got to the good part. But nobody I know would be that patient! And many of my neighbors were voters for Trump and are looking forward to big changes in the things they think need to change. Here’s how to win: Work your issues. Figure out what you’re passionate about, find colleagues and like-minded folks, and move forward with them. If you know you have differing opinions on some things, shut up! More than thirty years ago, a bunch of us started working to build back the local food system that once thrived in America. The facts are there’s plenty of land in the Midwest and plenty of water. But, people had abandoned the vegetable gardens that were part of every city lot. Folks were growing lawns! Poisoning dandelions! Dumping fertilizer to make bluegrass grow under trees! What a hoot! Today, community gardens and urban farms are sprouting up even on rooftops in all the big cities. Farmers’ markets are bringing good meat to a city park or blocked-off street near you (I hope). I've attached a picture of delicious local food and an adorable kid at a Missouri Rural Crisis Center meeting. And that progress has happened as political administrations changed—the Rs, the Ds, the Rs, the Ds. Despite the political scene, single-minded people pursued their single-minded goal and didn’t dwell on their differences of opinions. So let’s not make the same mistakes the conservatives made when Obama was elected. We don’t need the nation to be further divided. I wrote about this in a Progressive Populist column. Brilliant editor Jim Cullen came up with the title “Acceptance Doesn’t Mean Surrender.” Here’s the link: http://www.populist.com/23.01.mcmillen.html