How can I help?
If you're concerned about the erosion of your constitutional rights in the United States post 9-11, and want to make a difference, you're probably asking yourself what you can do. The answer is, a lot, and it depends on what you are already doing.
You've probably already heard the standard tactics. Contact your legislators with your opinion on the issues. Use email, faxes, the telephone, whatever you are comfortable with -- but get your opinion out there, and make sure that you aren't ignored. Don't just contact your legislators, either -- make sure you forward your comments to other appropriate sources, and post them publically for other activists to use as ideas and inspiration, or simply to provide arguments to those who are undecided.
If you haven't already, register for updates from our weblog so you won't be blindsided. We'll keep you up to date on the issues where your voice can make a difference.
And if that's not enough to keep you busy, or you've already done it, there's more.
You can help get the word out by volunteering your time with this website. Search the online versions of your local papers and submit stories of local interest from your area to our weblog. Look for opportunities to make a difference on specific legislation, specific legislators during election season, and so on. Share your views with our audience.
Some people have turned the legal tactics of the anti-gunners against them, by holding them to the letter of the laws regarding campaign financing by nonprofits. Just a single person has seriously inconvenienced the Million Mom March by catching them in violations of the laws regulating non-profits. While it's a time-consuming tactic individually, it makes a big difference.
On a more personal note, everyone has a circle of friends and family. Most of them have a lot in common -- but civil rights are not always on the list. If you know people who aren't as tuned into the issues as you are, don't give them up as a lost cause. Instead, try to convince them to listen and think about the issues. Don't endlessly preach at them; if they seem receptive, make your arguments, then let them think it over. Don't force them to defend their position prematurely; they'll convince themselves trying to convince you.
The important part is to make them think. Challenge the preconceptions. Present the evidence that the world may not work the way they had thought, and that the solution the government and the media have been spoonfeeding into their mind may not actually be the best possible course -- in fact, may even be actively harmful.
Make them think.
An informed, educated, and literate people can only be our ally.