Action is the antidote to fear. The more you do--the more you learn, the more you discuss, the more engage--the more influence you have. The more influence you have, the more confidence you have that you can make a difference... and the more confidence you have, the less room there is for fear.
This is true for any political environment, civic, corporate, familial, or otherwise.
Policies don't change on a dime with an election... unless the population is apathetic enough to allow itself to be steamrolled by whomever happens to be in office. (Don't follow the lead of your neighbors to the south; we seem to have momentarily forgotten that we have the right--and the obligation--of enforcing the system of checks and balances in government.) Even if a policy is passed that you don't like, there is always room after that to shape the policy during execution. When you are engaged, there are endless ways to exert influence... and the more you learn, the more you create opportunities to shift your perspective. Who knows, maybe a policy that looks bad today will start sounding good once you get to know what the people behind it were thinking?
Write to the newspapers, to your officials, to your neighbors. Talk. Learn. Act.
You have nothing to fear.
|