AskBeehaw

One thing I haven't seen in this thread yet: we're more or less trained that the only politics that really matter are federal politics. Most people can name the president (used it as part of a fast field cognitive test as a paramedic), but most folks can't name their congressperson or senators, let alone their state legislators, mayor, or city/county council representative. The more local you get, the less awareness there typically is, which is the opposite of what it should be. In the US, at least, local politicians have a pretty shocking amount of power while also being infinitely more accessible. If you live in a city, you can go to a city council meeting and yell at them about anything you want for 3-5 minutes or what have you, completely for free, and the cops can't stop you.

The cool thing is that you'll meet other people there who also want to affect change, and you can start to network and organize. I've done it, I'm doing it, I highly recommend it.