Reader Submitted
To the editor:
On Election Day, each one of us has the chance to shape the direction of our country. I urge you to vote for the candidates that care most deeply about issues that are important to you. To find out how your elected officials voted, you can search at www.Govtrack.us. There are groups that summarize this information for voters. For example, The League of Conservation Voters provides a score or ranking for public servants based on their support of environmental policies (lcv.org).
It matters that politicians know how to work with people who have differing values or views. One positive example is a bipartisan Congressional group called the House Climate Solutions Caucus. In order to join, each politician has to find a member of the opposite party and join as a pair. When politicians lose their seat at each election cycle new pairs have to form. Last November, the group had 20 members and lost seven after the election. Since then, the bi-partisan Caucus has remarkably grown from 13 to 60 members in the first nine months of 2017 alone. This is promising bipartisan activity for those of us who are discouraged by our elected officials.
What this tells voters is that there is a growing concern in Congress about climate change. Their constituents tell them they must do something as natural disasters devastate their homes and lives and livelihoods are harder to maintain as weather patterns affect farming leading to unstable food production and prices. It is an issue that affects all voters. We cannot fight for any other causes if our immediate needs for shelter and sustenance are not met.
How did this bi-partisan Caucus form? It was from the lobbying efforts by ordinary citizens like you and me with guidance from a national non-profit organization called Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) www. citizensclimatelobby.org. Within a decade, citizens worked with experts to formulate a carbon fee and dividend solution to reduce carbon emissions and create a laser-focused strategy to inform and support members of Congress about the impacts and solutions to climate change. In 2016 – a year that we were engulfed in the presidential election – CCL remained focused by organizing 1,391 citizen-led meetings with members of Congress and wrote 40,879 letters to Congress about climate change solutions.
This example shows that it is within our own reach to affect decisions made by politicians. This has been proven time and time again by ordinary people exercising their citizen muscle for the right to vote, the right for equal pay, and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD). May the list continue with your involvement in the causes that you care about. For my part, I will carry on with my lifetime passion to protect the beautiful gem of a world that we live in. Please take the time and consideration to vote on Tuesday, November 7 for the candidates who focus on critical issues that matter to you. We will all live in a better world if everyone exercises their right to vote.
Thuy Anh Le
Hillsborough
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