Coping With Welfare Equals Losing 13 IQ Points

[daredtowork]

39. The disempowerment problem

I agree that's a major root of the problem. Everyone feels like they can't do anything.

It doesn't help that you can't even get your "political representatives" - or even their assistants - to respond to you. I couldn't even get County Supervisor Keith Carson - that's hardly the Busy and Important Leader of the Free World - to respond to me about the welfare-policy-punishing-work issue after repeated emails! Disempowerment is almost absolute!

Political activists are always saying "Vote!" and "Give money!" or "Attend this rally!" - but that's not making me feel any more empowered. What I need are routes and venues to solving my problems. Sometimes political activists go through the motions of connecting their big umbrella issue with my problems so I will vote or send money, but then the trickle down doesn't occur to actually addressing my problem. There really needs to be a lot more empowerment and infrastructure building at the LOCAL level, where people can actually get stuff handled and see results. Then perhaps those results will TRICKLE UP to build a great country!