Comment on How does someone run for office in todays time without selling out? by seathesailor

Parent Post: How does someone run for office in todays time without selling out?

seathesailor · 3/12/2025, 6:32:43 AM · permalink

If you grew up poor in America and made it to the middle class working through trade of own blood/sweat/tears, it's really not that hard - especially if you're talking about the political arena. Tried it, and learned politics is not the way to implement solutions that benefit the community you want to settle in. However, in general, it's a distraction that benefits a very robust and simultaneously pathetic class of "political operatives" or political animals in the niche industry.  
  
**From the grassroots coalition I formed when I tried campaigning, somethings you're going to need to consider:**  
\--Do you have buy-in from your family, and what do you hope to accomplish  
\--What are the problems where you Live &amp; are why you are Running For Office  
\--your own networks and community building  
\--the more local you go the more corrupt the politics generally is  
\--Who do you know, and who do you not know that you ought to (\*this is pretty important\*)  
\--Demographics  
\--which groups should you be outreaching to (Hint it's everyone)  
\--Local &amp; State Electoral Systems  
\--are there incumbent politicians you can work with  
\--are there incumbent politicians that will try to "unalive" you or your loved ones (\*seriously\*)  
\--do you understand the funding mechanisms of your opponents?  
\--are you willing to work with your opponents?  
\--PCO systems of prevailing local parties  
\--how much petty nonsense from adult and geriatric children are you willing to deal with  
\--do you have a positive message that unites neighbors that may disagree with you  
\--how is your accounting?  
\--how is your branding?  
\--have you worked out the fiscal cost of outreach (the whole process isn't too different than starting a small business)?  
\--if you get contacted by dumbass "think tanks" how will you navigate it?  
\--are you in it to pass policy, get funding into your community, or are you just there to make noise and chase clout?  
\*after losing/wining are you going to be around to continue to work with neighbors and build community, or is was everything simply transactional?  
\*\*if you have vulnerable dependents, are they going to be safe?  
\*\*\*and from experience, are you willing to live with the consequences of your decisions even if your campaign is unsuccessful... cause political animals and career politicians are petty as fuck, and you make any kind of noise or difference, and they don't forget, and they WILL absolutely take it personal

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maurice · 3/12/2025, 2:00:50 PM · permalink

3 bumps

seathesailor · 5/8/2025, 1:03:29 AM · permalink

I ran for congress in 2022 with about a dozen other folks - mostly veterans and military family grassroots campaigns, I'd have to track them all down, but I believe Benancio Garcia is still running. We probably spoke to a million people over our collective campaigns... it was a lot of door knocking 😅  
  
Actually, the more local you go in politics the more dirty it is going to get. Federal elections are way more straight forward than state, municipal, and district. You have to think about it in terms of whose wheels are getting greased in terms of the incumbent you are challenging as a grassroots candidate - once you directly threaten a groups potential grants and kickbacks even if you're in their union it's not a game...  
  
On the federal level once you make some noise you'll have some beltway "think tanks" feel you out and give you unsolicited "policy advice" but all in all they know the game. The political animals, advisors, and industry behind the duopoly will see right through you most of the time, and what you have to think about is which committees your incumbent federal politician is in charge of. That is where their actual lobbying payday comes from, not the silly nonsense that Fox/MSNBC/CNN/ABC/PBS/CBS will report on them.  
  
I'm focused on the community building aspect right now of alternative economic systems. I championed "distributive economic policies" that favored federal income tax deductions for local spending, and things like right-to-repair. If you can get things through your state legislature, you can get it through federal.  
  
Over the depression era, bartering aaccording to my elders in the 90s was a favored alternative to banking. We're too brainwashed into over-reliance on cheap credit and assurances like "FDIC" backing to see the reality of value that exist in our own neighborhoods. There is something like 26 trillion in farmland on the market right now, and a reason even billionaires and private equity are scrambling to obtain it. They don't have the foot-power that each of us has to talk to our elderly neighbors that you do.

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