#democratic socialists of america

Here are three groups you could join to get politically engaged and stay politically engaged. The midterm elections are a beginning. Not an end.

No value judgments on which group you choose—whatever gets you active and engaged. Heck, you can choose all of them. Brush up on your conflict of interest reading for dual membership, especially if you’re aiming for leadership, and you should be fine to dive into as many as you want.

Indivisible

Find an Indivisible team in your area. If there’s not one, get a friend or two together and start one. Pick a neutral place to have meetings. Mine meets at a local Panera or a BBQ joint—both for free. Sometimes public libraries will have meeting places you can book for free, too. Pick a structure, decide how the group will make decisions, assign team leaders, and get started. They really do provide amazing resources, including points of contact you can call or text for help, help fundraising without having to worry about taxes, and trainings to show you how to become an organizer. The national group is largely hands off except for legal/compliance stuff. It’s very much a “you do you” situation and adapting the guide to work for your community.

Then you can proceed to give your electeds, from your school board to the Senate, absolute hell when they inevitably do something awful. It’s fun!

All the Indivisibles I know of don’t charge membership dues. Check before you attend a meeting so you know.

Democratic Socialists

If you like Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, here you go. The DSA may be light on the ground in some rural places (like where I live, which is why I don’t know much about them yet), because even the Democratic Party struggled after the Tea Party wave. But they do exist, at various levels of activity, and you can find your local DSA group via this page and see when and where they meet. If they don’t, let them know you’re interested when they finally do start having meetings.

I don’t know if the DSA charges membership dues. It may, like the Democratic Party, depend on the local group.

The Democratic Party

The Democratic Party is made up of a bunch of individual state parties, and within those state parties, individually, autonomous county/parish parties. For example: I’m a member of one county party, but there are 75 other county parties with committees all their own and they largely don’t overlap. We do have a good relationship with the county committee right above us, though. I explain this all to really drive home the point that the Democratic Party in the U.S. has a lot of moving parts even outside the DNC.

Some state parties may have robust sites that help you find your local group, others won’t. It’s okay to call the state party and ask for help, too. Yes, I know, phones. I’m sorry. If you’re struggling, ask a friend for help or ping me via ask here and I’ll help you. You can try email, but in my experience, email is the least efficient way to get answers quickly.

As far as I can tell, your inclusion in the state party comes by engaging with your local party group, but this may depend on how your state party is structured. You’ll likely pay dues to be a voting member in your local group. In my committee, the fee is $5 every two years, but it may vary group to group within a state unless the state party standardizes it.

Alabama,Alaska,Arizona,Arkansas,California,Colorado,Connecticut,Delaware,Florida,Georgia,Hawaii,Idaho,Illinois,Indiana,Iowa,Kansas,Kentucky,Louisiana,Maine,Maryland,Massachusetts,Michigan,Minnesota,Mississippi,Missouri,Montana,Nebraska,Nevada,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New Mexico,New York,North Carolina,North Dakota,Ohio,Oklahoma,Oregon,Pennsylvania,Rhode Island,South Carolina,South Dakota,Tennessee,Texas,Utah,Vermont,Virginia,Washington,West Virginia,Wisconsin,Wyoming

Wait, Why Should I Listen to You, Specifically?

I’m imperfect as an organizer and I have a lot to learn! BUT: I’m a Girls State alum, I’ve had Wellstone training, I’ve been managing my local Indivisible group for over year, I spent two years reviving my completely dead county committee, I’ve been elected as a delegate to the state Democratic convention, and I have a degree in history with an emphasis on Various American Fuckups, Especially in the South and West. 

In Conclusion

Political parties and groups are made up of people and we have seen that the people in them aren’t necessarily diverse, thoughtful, or compassionate. A lot of the people who may read this are. You know where you need to be.