Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Our misguided tendency to hibernate after an election
It struck a chord when a friend spoke about our misguided tendency to hibernate after an election. Those of us who vote during presidential elections do so because we know that who our leaders are matters. But we’re all too willing to believe that once we’ve voted, our job is done. One activist friend said it’s like we hire someone to do a really important job and then we provide zero oversight. But we can’t afford to nap — there is too much at stake, always, but especially during this pandemic.
Striking out on your own, however, can be really difficult without the help of an organization that is committed to your success. Thankfully, more and more nonprofit organizations are beginning to see the need to support their members in taking much deeper, ongoing action.
“People want to be a part of something bigger than themselves,” said Bill O’Keefe, Executive Vice President of Mission, Mobilization, and Advocacy at Catholic Relief Services (CRS). With that realization, in 2019 CRS launched a program to develop chapters that would deeply engage their members in effective advocacy and fundraising. CRS wanted to support their members in doing much more than just voting, but then COVID-19 hit.
“When everything first shut down,” O’Keefe recalled, “we had discussions about whether we should pause the program….We decided to move forward [thinking] that people, particularly at this time, want to step outside of themselves and feel something beyond helplessness, hopelessness, and fear.” And step outside of themselves they did.
Chapter members began working to pass the Global Child Thrive Act, a bill that would require the administration to integrate early childhood development techniques into all child-focused international aid programs, activities like reading and singing to children, playing with colorful objects, and providing better nutrition. The things we would do to help our own children and grandchildren thrive would make a world of difference for children globally, especially those living in refugee camps and in other difficult circumstances.
After her Congressman, Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), spoke during House passage of the bill, one CRS Chapter member wrote, “When [we met with the Congressman in 2019 to ask him to introduce the bill], I was a nervous wreck. It was my first time truly advocating…and I wanted to get it right….[but] seeing him speak today [on the House floor] and knowing that he actually listened, learned and worked for something that meant so much to the people he represents has given me renewed hope in the future of our government. I feel privileged to be a part of this experience.”
How many of us can say we feel privileged to be part of making our government work?
A chapter member in Los Angeles had a tougher job with her member of Congress. “At first, we thought it would not be a challenge to gain his support for our bill,” the volunteer recalled, “but we were wrong. For weeks we called, left messages, emailed and mailed letters. For weeks communications remained unanswered. It was discouraging.”
“Then, one Saturday morning our local CRS [staff member called and asked] excitedly ‘Did you hear the good news?’ To our surprise our Congressman finally agreed to co-sponsor [the bill]! We were excited. The point of this story is ‘don’t give up’,” she told the other volunteers on a national call. “Try and try again. The children need us!”
A volunteer in still another chapter had a positive call with a key aide and said, “I got off the phone and tried to explain to my 6-year-old why I felt so excited and how important it is to talk to people in the government to work together to make the world a better place.”
The Global Child Thrive Act was passed with veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate as part of the much larger National Defense Authorization Act, but the bill was vetoed by President Trump on December 23rd. No one said it would be easy, but the House and Senate are expected to override the veto.
“Governments can be counted on to do the right thing,” said Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, “but only after they’ve exhausted all other possibilities.” Isn’t that our job, to make sure that government gets around to doing the right thing without first exhausting all other possibilities?
Now that the election is over, we don’t have to hibernate. And we don’t have to get involved because we have faith that our government will do the right thing. It probably won’t. That’s where we come in.
Now that the election is over, we don’t have to hibernate. And we don’t have to get involved because we have faith that our government will do the right thing. It probably won’t. That’s where we come in.
Sam Daley-Harris founded the anti-poverty lobby RESULTS in 1980, Civic Courage in 2012 and is author of Reclaiming Our Democracy: Healing the Break between People and Government.