Facebook Alone Will Not Save The World

Political activism has taken many forms throughout American history. During the Enlightenment of the mid to late 18th Century pamphlets such as Common Sense were written to question the political status quo. In the 19th century the nation saw reform movements bringing like minded individuals together to propose solutions to the ills of society such as alcoholism and the horrendous conditions of insane asylums. Political activism moved from newspaper to radio to television media in the 20th century, reaching a greater percentage of Americans than ever before.

In the 21st century political activists can look towards social networking sites to promote their political ideals or support a charity or even urge a boycott of specific products. As someone who is currently engaged in a political struggle that I never thought that I would face so early in my life, I find myself reaching out to my social networks to save fellow public workers' jobs, save the quality of education in my state, and stop my Governor from succeeding in causing damage to my state that will only take another 20 years to undo.

On Facebook I am a fan of the page "New Jersey Teachers United Against Governor Chris Christie's Pay Freeze". I have been following this page as long as it has been created and have started to notice that many followers have grown frustrated after the results of the N.J. School Board elections on April 20th. There have been countless comments to the tune of, "We aren't doing anything on this page, the cuts are still happening". Why isn't this Facebook effort succeeding? Do Facebook causes or political activist groups actually accomplish anything?

The key to social networking is not just using the virtual world to get your message across. My social networks include a mix between the virtual and real world. Nearly every day since Governor Christie has been in office, I talk to my friends, my colleagues, my neighbors, and my political contacts about ways to stop the Governor from cutting funding to school districts, towns, volunteer firefighter training and volunteer EMT training. These discussions go on person to person, over the phone, through emails, through Facebook and even through this revived blog. Bottom line, if you want to make your virtual activism achieve its goals you have to take your cause into the real world because Facebook alone will not save the world.

Where Do We Go From Here?

If you have children in N.J. public schools, know someone who works in N.J. public schools or you are a N.J. public school employee, tonight is not a good night. Before the next chapter in our fight to save jobs and the quality of education in our state, we must all understand that this is not your typical union vs. the governor fight. Tonight has proven the fact that the old strong arm tactics that our teacher's union has used in the past for influence in our state and its government simply will not work in the current climate of the state.

People in the state of New Jersey are angry. Unemployment is high, property taxes are through the roof, and people are looking for someone to blame. The Governor has chosen the scapegoat for all of the state's problems: teachers and the employees of N.J. public schools. He has successfully directed the anger of the populace at us, not because he's spiteful and wants to see our demise. He was successful because our union walked right into his trap. Instead of focusing on getting the budgets passed on a local level, union leadership focused on the proposed cuts in state aid to school districts. All of the money spent on T.V. ads about state aid cuts to education means nothing if you can't get out the vote to support a simple local election asking people to vote YES on a budget. What we needed for the school board elections was a political style campaign, not rhetoric and a thirty second sound bite.

Christie succeeded today because he ran a better campaign, and to him that is all today was. He honestly does not care about the thousands of N.J. public school employees that will lose their jobs because he sends his kids to private school. He does not care about care about what happens when towns have to cut police officers due to aid cuts because he has a 24 hour personal security detail. And he does not care about the thousands of public employees who will lose their homes because he's living in a nice suburban home and can spend as much time as he wants in the Governor's mansion.

Tell your local elected officials to fight for your towns. Demand that your school boards look elsewhere for cuts. Call, write, and email your state representatives and let them know that if they vote for the current budget that they will lose your vote next time they come up for re-election. Or you could just sit and wait, because that is what your Governor wants you to do. Where do you go from here?