Lawyer Emily Amick discusses empowering civic engagement for all in democracy. Tips include treating civic participation as self-care, finding your civic personality, and managing a healthy news diet. She shares insights on voters in Utah protecting citizen-led initiatives and the impact of consumer behavior. Plus, debunking misconceptions about homeowners' costs and cosplay costume making.
Engage locally to combat political frustrations and find empowerment in advocating for community changes.
Identify your civic personality to align actions with personal traits for sustained engagement and impact in civic life.
Deep dives
Importance of Local Civic Engagement for Hope and Progress
Getting involved locally is emphasized as a way to combat feelings of hopelessness and frustration in current politics and democracy. The importance of starting small and experiencing tangible progress, such as advocating for community changes like speed bumps, is highlighted. Civic engagement is portrayed as not only beneficial for society but also essential for individual mental health and empowerment in affecting positive change.
Discovering Your Civic Personality for Sustainable Engagement
The concept of identifying one's civic personality, which includes roles like leader, giver, connector, and creator, is introduced. The importance of aligning civic actions with personal traits to ensure sustained engagement and impact is emphasized. Examples are provided to illustrate how individuals can authentically contribute to civic life based on their personalities and interests.
Challenging Massive Money Influence Through Informed Conversations
Addressing the influence of dark money in politics, the need for informed voting and civic engagement is underscored. By engaging in conversations with others and creating informed dialogues, individuals can combat the impact of large financial contributions to politics. Encouraging active discussions among people to share information and build collective strength is seen as pivotal in strengthening democracy and countering financial influence.
If you’ve been feeling hopeless about the news, the election, the economy, the climate crisis and everything else that’s going on, today’s episode is for you. Emily Amick, lawyer and co-author of “Democracy in Retrograde: How to Make Changes Big and Small in Our Country and in Our Lives,” argues we can all become better participants in our democracy. And we don’t need to have a gazillion dollars to do it. On the show today, Amick explains why we should treat civic engagement as self-care, how to find your civic personality and ways to cultivate a news diet that doesn’t put you in a doom loop. Plus, the moment she realized our democracy was headed in the wrong direction.
Then, we’ll get into how voters in Utah fought to protect the power of citizen-led ballot initiatives and why shoppers hide purchases from their romantic partners. Plus, an anime cosplayer was wrong about what it would take to create her own costume.
How are you getting involved in civic life? What helps you fend off feelings of hopelessness? Let us know at makemesmart@marketplace.org or leave us a voicemail at 508-U-B-SMART.
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