100 Ways to Make a Political Difference. Today.
No more excuses. Use your energy in helpful, productive ways.
I get one question 694 times more often than all the others: ‘What can I actually do about our politics right now?‘
Well, here’s your answer—100 of them, to be exact. No one gets to say “I don’t know what to do” ever again.
None of these will deliver the immediate political change we crave, but they all matter. Even if just for today, they flex the civic and community muscles that atrophy when we sit on the sidelines. Some take money, most don’t. None are costless, but that’s the trade we make for living in a democracy.
Don’t talk about it. Be about it.
100 Ways to Engage in Politics and Civic Life
Write down the last time you changed your mind on a political topic—genuinely flipped your opinion. Include who/what convinced you.
Make a list of three people in your life whose opinions you trust the most. Then generate a few questions you'd like to ask them for a reality and perspective check on the state of the world.
Call your member of Congress and explain what one or two issues you'd most like them to speak up on. Be specific and be polite.
Subscribe to your local newspaper. If you already do, gift a subscription to someone who doesn’t.
Drop 10 percent of the people you follow on social media. Bonus points for cutting the most extreme folks in your feed.
Attend a political town hall meeting and come prepped with at least three questions—you don’t have to ask them but do the work.
Volunteer for a political campaign. An afternoon of knocking on doors or making calls helps. Plus, you’ll get to see what grassroots campaigns are really all about.
Mark your calendars for every election day for 2025—local, state, national, and special elections. We vote a whole lot in the USA so put a reminder in now so you miss none of the dates.
Help a friend or neighbor register to vote. And while you’re at it, make sure you’re registered yourself.
Write a polite, persuasive email or letter to an elected official about a local issue. Make sure you have a direct ask of them and leave your contact information.
Read a banned book with a perspective you think you disagree with. Challenge yourself to find at least three insights or arguments you hadn't considered before.
Call a separate member of Congress who represents you to thank them for a recent action they took. The 19 year old interns who answer the phones don’t get these types of calls very often.
Attend TWO different local government meetings in the next two months. The more local the better.
Join a local political party meeting and actually attend—subscribing to their email list doesn’t count.
Find out who’s running for your local school board. Pick your preferred candidate and offer to help their campaign. Then watch them melt with appreciation.
Run for a local office or a board yourself, even something small like the library board. Get in the arena!
Sign up to be a poll worker on Election Day.
Look up all of the hearings happening in Congress. Find one you're interested in and watch it from start to finish (they are recorded).
When you don’t know the answer to something, admit you don’t know. Then find the answer.
Cut your social media time in half. Then cut it in half again.
Call someone you haven’t talked to in too long. Don’t text or email. Call.
Watch PBS at least as much as cable news over the next month.
Tutor or volunteer at a local library or elementary school.
Offer your talents and services at a reduced (or free) rate to the community.
Attend a community event supporting a cause outside your usual interests. Show up, even just for a few minutes.
Contact that one teacher from your past—you know the one—and tell them what they meant to you.
Support a community garden. Or start one. Or clean one.
Name your top three values in life right now (and don’t confuse these with goals). Then ask yourself what you can do today to reflect those values.
Shift from a threat-based mindset to a challenge-based mindset. The former leads us to feel fearful or backdown blindly out of anger; the latter forces us to ask 'What does the problem we're facing require of me and how can I start to tackle it, even if it's a tiny step?'
Beware the ‘simple fixes’ in politics and those who preach them. The phrase “common sense solutions” should make alarm bells ring in your head of over-simplification.
Resist the urge to place blame solely in one place or on one person. It’s never that simple.
Focus on what is in your control and what isn't. Start here, everyday, no matter how small it may feel.
Distance yourself from the contagion of catastrophe. Focusing only on the worst possibilities takes the focus off of ourselves and the decisions and actions (big and small) that are in our control now.
Think about your hero(s). What made them so important to you? Is there something about their lives that you can emulate today?
Every time you bad-mouth the other political party, donate $5 to the local animal shelter. Of course, you can disagree and voice those differing opinions. But don’t cross the line. Dehumanizing those you disagree with only lessens the chance at productive dialogue.
Practice active listening in political conversations, especially with people you disagree with. Don’t have a goal of changing their mind. Instead, only seek to understand.
Read a biography or memoir of a political leader with whom you fundamentally disagree. Make sure it includes their upbringing so you can get a sense of where they came from before they became the person who makes you yell at your screen.
Attend an educational lecture, workshop, or town hall to learn more about an issue. Bring a friend.
Write down what civic engagement means to you and how you’d like to improve yours.
Grab a coffee or lunch—even if over zoom—with a friend. For the whole time, never start a sentence with 'I', 'My', or 'We'. Make it solely about them.
Host a block party or casual get-together for your neighbors. And not just the one’s you’re already friends with.
Join a book club. If one doesn’t exist, start one. I’ll be the first to join.
Attend a meeting for a local community group or nonprofit.
Organize a neighborhood clean-up day. Get the neighborhood kids involved. Start ‘em young.
Speak up at a local public hearing or zoning meeting about something that affects your neighborhood.
If you’re concerned with money in politics, snoop around on OpenSecrets.org. There you can find out how much every politician raises and from whom. Follow the money.
Start a Little Free Library in your neighborhood to encourage reading and community connection.
Encourage your workplace to offer volunteer days. Come prepared with a list of places the company is likely to support paying their employee’s to volunteer.
Write thank-you notes or shout-outs to local public service folks—teachers, mail carriers, sanitation workers.
Donate used books, clothes, and shoes to a school or community center.
Read the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights—seriously, when was the last time? "We listen and we don’t judge."
Look up your city budget, but before you do, write down how big you think it is and the top 5 biggest expenses. Then, see where the money actually goes and compare it to your guesses.
Do the same for the federal budget.
Sign up for the Punchbowl News and/or the
morning newsletters. They are the best in the biz at telling folks what is happening behind the scenes in DC.Apply to serve on a local government advisory board or commission—many positions go unfilled simply because no one applies. That ain’t good.
Start a petition for an issue that needs attention in your community.
Be specific about your complaints. Avoid generalizations like “Democrats don’t ____” and “All Republicans ____.” Name them.
Look up who represents you at every level of government—city, county, state, and federal.
Stop sharing articles after just reading the headline. 10 burpees every time you do.
Avoid doomscrolling. If you're consuming more news than you can act on, take a break. The longer the break the better.
Read something from a political perspective you usually avoid.
Subscribe to the podcast "Left, Right & Center" to get a mix of perspectives.
Find a recurring volunteer opportunity instead of just a one-time event.
Sign up for a “ride-along” with your local police department to see firsthand how they engage with the community.
Contact your neighborhood elementary school and ask if their special’s teachers have any supplies needs. They do.
Donate to or volunteer for a legal aid organization.
Sign up for alerts from a watchdog group tracking government spending.
Go to your state capitol to sit in on a legislative session—it’s your government, go watch it work (or not). And if you can’t make it in person, virtual streams are almost always available.
Find out what laws your state legislature is currently considering. Then track the ones of most interest to you.
Research your local campaign finance laws.
Learn about ranked-choice voting and how your state conducts its primary processes. Many of our elections are effectively decided in the primary elections—waiting until the general is often too late to have a real voice.
Challenge yourself to engage in one constructive political conversation a week.
Organize a voter registration drive at your workplace, gym, or place of worship.
Attend a naturalization ceremony to witness new citizens taking the oath—then remind yourself what civic commitment looks like.
Support independent journalism by subscribing or donating to an investigative outlet.
Ask your city council for a meeting to discuss an issue of importance to you.
Find and support a local business that aligns with your values. Personal plug for your local bookstore.
Identify one public service you rely on and learn about it: how many people does it serve? When was it instituted? How much does it cost and what proportion of the federal budget is it?
Research where your state's energy comes from and how that might change in the future.
Attend a school board meeting—education policy impacts more than just students.
Help a neighbor with a simple task like mowing their lawn or shoveling snow.
Offer transportation to polling places on Election Day.
Help translate or interpret for non-English speakers at community events.
Research your state’s policies on gerrymandering—how are the districts drawn in your state? If you think it should be done differently, make your opinion known.
Volunteer at a shelter or food bank—policy and poverty are deeply connected.
Learn how to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Show up for jury duty—yes, even when you want to get out of it.
Watch a documentary on a social or political issue you know little about.
Find a bipartisan or cross-party group working toward a common goal and join it.
Write down the 10 issues you care most about, in order. Note which ones you are not willing to compromise on to get progress.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper on an issue that deserves more attention (even if you never send it).
Subscribe to experts about the thing(s) you know you know you should know more about. Some of my recs:
for civics, for the Courts, and and for history-relevant news of the day.Set up a “reverse mentorship” program where young people can teach older generations about digital activism and civic engagement.
Ask a teacher (of any level) what students are curious about today. And how those curiosities have changed over the years. Resist the temptation to complain about “kids these days.” Find out what ignites them instead and work from there.
Read your state’s constitution—compare it to the U.S. Constitution.
Find out how your state selects judges and how you can vote on them.
Sign up for your state’s legislative alert system to track bills moving through your legislature.
Find out the meeting schedule of your state legislature. Is it year round? Part time? How much do they pay state-level representatives? Would you take the job for that salary?
Look up which bills your state legislature has passed in the last session.
Stop focusing on DC politics. You can make much more impact, and faster, by focusing on the local levels of government.
Do one thing from this list today. And another one tomorrow.
No one person can fix our politics overnight, but that’s no excuse to sit it out. Start checking these off—one at a time, one day at a time. Some may not seem directly related to the political chaos we see daily, but they are. Politics isn’t just about elections or Washington’s dysfunction; it’s about people, about community, about how we engage with one another. The more we invest in strengthening those bonds, the more resilient our democracy becomes. These actions may feel small, but together, they add up. Don’t just talk about what’s broken—be part of what builds.
Outstanding, Casey. This comprehensive list offers choices even the most overwhelmed of us can still use--and pick up others as we are able to. I hope this gets ultra-wide distribution. I will begin sharing it today--and urge the recipients to not only grab and go with a few, but also tune in to Crash Course. Beautifully done and certainly timely!
I am going to achieve 50 of these tasks during the month of March. Thank you.