Perfect Antidote to Campaign Season Hangovers: "Practical Activism"

November 9, 2006

by Assemblymember John Laird

Regardless of the outcome, so many campaigns at the federal level have become dreary and

negative, with this year’s the worst in memory. As the national deficit is counted in

the trillions, global warming threatens our planet, the gap between the richest and

poorest grows wider and the war in Iraq drags into its fourth year, this year’s

Congressional campaign was dominated by record spending, baseless attack ads and little

discussion about our future.

Against this backdrop, hundreds of students gathered recently at a conference about

“practical activism” to figure out how to effectively create change. I offered a keynote

talk. There was advance concern by one student that electoral politics aren’t always the

route to change—hard to argue with given the recent campaign. But the irony was that his

point was going to be my point.

Some of the things I am most proud of came from organizing efforts that were not

electoral.

When the HIV epidemic gripped our nation, a small group of us began the Santa Cruz AIDS

Project. It was a creative effort that devised state-of-the-art prevention and education

efforts in places where people would be most at risk and also provide support for those

with HIV.

We said things that government might be afraid to say, and we mobilized hundreds of

volunteers to do things government wouldn’t usually do. Though any government support we

received was helpful, the agency relied on public commitment and the freedom to do what

we thought was best.

Over twenty-five years ago, when there was concern about local money remaining local and

being invested for local needs, a number of us formed the Santa Cruz Community Credit

Union. The idea was to create a democratic financial institution to offer credit to

locally-developing businesses and individuals to benefit our community and its values.

That institution had one government grant near the beginning, but relied on investments

of thousands of private individuals. Today it is a thriving institution, and in

Sacramento I honored one of the first businesses to receive a credit union loan—now one

of the largest printing businesses in the region—as 2006 “small business of the year.”

There are many other examples—such as the Women’s Health Center or the Dientes program—of

making positive change that includes substantial volunteer effort outside the government

arena. While I believe electoral politics is a critical ingredient to making positive

change, it is clear grassroots community efforts provide leadership in a way electoral

politics cannot. It is the perfect message after a rough and tumble campaign season.