Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Real Political Impact

A good friend of mine who lives in D.C. recently posted some first hand accounts of Tea Party protests. It was helpful in getting a better understanding of the movement. It also got me wondering just how helpful protesting is in creating political change. My gut feeling is not that successful. Unless you number in the millions or have a incredibly famous charismatic leader and very specific goals, I'm not convinced protesting has much impact. I've also mentioned that voting has little impact on political outcomes and that political involvement is more about consuming something than producing it. So what's the politically motivated to do? How do you change policy without being lost in the crowd? Politician Omar Ahmad says that the best way, is the old-fashioned way:


Here's the TED Blog to keep you updated of new talks.

2 comments:

  1. Great article in the New
    Yorker this week about the past and present iterations of the Boston Tea Party:

    http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/03/100503fa_fact_lepore

    ReplyDelete

You are the reason why I do not write privately. I would love to hear your thoughts, whether you agree or not.