The national political landscape has shifted dramatically in the past four weeks, making it hard to stay grounded. When everything feels unsettled and constantly changing, taking practical steps at the local level can help.
A few weeks ago, the elders in my Friends’ congregation gathered for an all-afternoon retreat, which really meant a long meeting, held on the church lawn. North Valley Friends has been my home for seven years now, and like many churches, our little community is at an inflection point, needing to make weighty decisions about the future and the faithful work we hope to do.
During a break for snacks, I briefly glanced at Twitter/X, and saw the news that former President Donald Trump had been shot at a rally. The initial reporting was chaotic and incomplete (honestly, it has continued to be so) and, like so many others, I was stunned; though not a fan of the president, I knew that our country’s own inflection point would be steered, and not in a good way, by this violent act.
For the rest of our elders’ meeting, I felt torn, my heart and mind wanting to focus on the work of my beloved church community, while a persistent thrum of despair about our nation distracted me, making it impossible to be fully present where I was needed.
A week later, I was waiting with several family members to board the Pikes Peak cog train, and noted on Twitter that Joe Biden had resigned. For the next few hours, while we climbed through beautiful forests and breathtaking views, my mind turned to the shifting political ground, and it was difficult to be fully present when so much had changed, in an instant.
Staying Grounded
Those two experience symbolizes perfectly where so many of us are, now, with unsettled and unsettling national politics keeping us from being wholly invested in the places we’re planted. Even the joy and relief many of us are feeling about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz might keep us looking at the big picture, rather than attending to what is happening on the ground, right in front of us.
Being panicked about national politics can be an appropriate response to the chaos around us, as can the helpless feeling that we cannot adequately fix something so big, and so broken. I know I’ve felt that resignation in the last few years: what really can one middle class, middle-aged person on the west coast do to enact necessary changes, especially to a political system fueled by a craven lust for power and money?
But that elders’ meeting also reminded me that the antidote to despair is not resignation but action, a purposeful living out of the Gospel message in my life, including my investment in politics. This might not mean I need to provide more action on the national scale, though there are ways I can help there, by joining Get Out The Vote efforts, canvassing, writing voters in swing states, etc.
Living out my faith can also mean making real efforts in my own community to advocate for peace and justice, to assure the well-being of marginalized populations, and to create conditions for the thriving of all God’s children.
After all, although national policies matter, decisions being made in school boards and local councils also have significant influence on our country’s future: Through the history and literature being taught in schools. Through the ways immigrants are welcomed. Through the kinds of inclusive policies that allow people to flourish, rather than live in fear.
Taking Practical Steps to Ground Yourself
When you feel your heart give way to despair about the state of our country’s politics, here are some real, actionable steps you can take to manifest your faith in the town square:
- Begin attending school board and city council meetings. Decisions are being made there that have real impacts on your community and on our nation’s future. Invest in attending some meetings (even if only on Zoom) so you can be informed about the policies being formed locally that might, in time, shape our national ethos.
- Engage in local elections. Voter turnout is notoriously low in local elections. Bad actors can get elected when no one is paying attention, which is what happened in my local community. In an election where only 31 percent of registered voters mailed in a ballot, an alt-right school board majority managed to win, then destroy our schools for generations to come. Being informed about seemingly nonpartisan elections, and then voting, can have a real impact.
- Stop fighting on community social media boards. Our community’s social media pages are toxic. Neighbors say things virtually that they would never say in real life. After being a persistent commenter on those pages, I committed to not responding about eighteen months ago. The results have been good for my soul, and when others likewise made that commitment, the heat was turned down significantly.
- Find ways to know your neighbors. Talk to your neighbors. Play Pickleball with the local club, or take an aerobics class at the community center. Volunteer. Find ways to get out of your bubbles, as the simple act of doing something with neighbors can make a difference by humanizing those with whom you disagree. (There are limits to this, of course.)
In the upcoming weeks I will be saying more about these activities, and why they can transform communities that are still deeply divided, but beginning to heal. In moments of despair, I’m reminded that good things are being done, and that staying grounded in local politics is important, especially when the national political ground is shifting.
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