We open our Advocacy Blog by calling for FOCUS on our League of Women Voters goals, in this unprecedented moment in American history.
If you’re like most people, you are absolutely distracted right now. The firehose of news is overwhelming. As human beings we have limited attention, and if that attention is pulled all over the place, then it becomes impossible to focus on goals or anything else. We’re also distracted by fear of the pandemic. And of course just by the challenges of living our lives in our particular situations at this moment in time. All of these situations also have emotional dimensions: not only fear, but also frustration, anger, anxiety, depression. These emotions also distract our attention as we try to deal with them. Distraction from any of these sources, with the accompanying emotions, can make you feel powerless. Focus will help you to regain your power as a citizen. Remember that democracy is not a spectator sport.
We would like this blog to be a source of focus and purpose during this time. Specifically, we want to build a community focused on small steps that, one by one, will lead you, and our state, toward a productive path. Remember that we’re the League of Women Voters: we know all about taking small steps against great odds, first to get the right to vote for women, and then, over the last hundred years, to strengthen democracy for all citizens step by step. For the last century, our members have met the challenge of distraction with focused action, and our generation of the LWV will be no different.
In this blog we will focus on strengthening democracy in Alabama. We will take up our current set of priorities for the Alabama Legislature, and we will give you information about those priorities. We’ll help you understand current and proposed legislation, as well as how to take empowered action as citizens. We’re playing the long game, step by step.
Please join us. For your first step, subscribe to our newsletter, and share blog posts with friends and family.
Read our current legislative priorities.
