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Building Your Policymaking Muscle

A collection of 28 issues

The 6 Most Important Names to Know in Policymaking

Six has long been a significant number for human beings. Six Flags. Six-packs. Six degrees of Kevin Bacon. That Bruce Willis movie The Sixth Sense. So it is only fitting that there are six key names to know in policymaking. 1. Your city/town councilor 2. Your state representative 3.

A Simple Tool to Up Your Policy Game

Our lives have many different kinds of calendars. The calendar of months and four seasons, the school calendar (I still find myself talking about autumn as the fall semester), the calendar of Q1 and Q2 and..., the calendar of planting tomatoes and picking asters, the calendar of the fiscal year

What Kills Most Bills & What to Do About It

When I first came to D.C., an old timer told me that the most powerful force in that town could be distilled to one word. And that word is coleslaw. No. I kid. The word is inertia. The devil you know is better than the devil you don'

The Key Thing the News Barely Covers

And now for a few fun policy questions. Can you... * ...name one component of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law? * ...name one law that was enacted under Trump? * ...ditto Obama (besides Obamacare)? If you could answer any of those, brava! If you were stumped by all of them (but can still

For When You Want to Give Up All Hope of Policy Change

"This is something we really cannot duplicate in the United States," Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross tells the U.S. Senate Committee on Aging one August day in 1972. "In England," she continues, "it does not cost the patient a penny." She isn't talking

If You're Nervous About Contacting Your Legislator

Us Magazine - which I don't read because I'm just too absorbed with the collected works of the French existentialists - has a section called, "Stars! They're just like us." Stars, here, are not luminous spheres of hydrogen and helium (though some

Two Unconventional Democracy Strengtheners

All kinds of juicy policy stuff is happening right under our noses! And an easy way to get some visibility into the juice is our Unconventional Democracy Strengthener #1: Sign up for our town or county's newsletter (if they have one). Mine shows up in my inbox on

If You Want to Get a Bill Passed

A seasoned driver in Delhi once told me that to drive in that city, you need three things: A good horn, good breaks, and good luck. Getting a bill passed isn't so different. You need some attention on it (horn), some patience (breaks), and good luck for miles.

If You Want to Know the Future

If you want to really wow folks at parties, tell them you can predict the future...of your town! This doesn't require a Magic 8 Ball, though that's quite wonderful to have. All it requires is getting familiar with an easy-to-miss local government document called the

An Alternative to Calling Our Member of Congress

One year is 8,760 hours. And of those many hours, let's pull out just four to six of them. Or 0.06 percent of a year. Now let's put that figure on the shelf for a moment. First, I want to talk about The Question