How To Feel Hopeful
The answer doesn't involve meditation, antidepressants, or hiding from the news.
Hope is in short supply these days. Student loan debt is at all time highs. So are medical costs and medical debt. Fascism looms in the next election. Climate change is so obvious and insistent that winter has become a collection of unsettling experiences we try to ignore. There's still a pandemic. The good guys seem to lose in every news story. If you're like me, you have too many obligations, you're caring for too many people who have it even worse, your self care is neglected, and your finances are a nightmare. It's hard to keep your chin up in times like these. Where do you find the hope that things will -- or even can -- get better?
The answer has always been the same. Things will get better when you make them better. To feel hopeful, you have to restore your own agency and power to change things. But how do you that?
Most of the serious problems in the world, and most of the serious problems I face, could be instantly solved if a relatively small number of people decided tomorrow to solve them.
My health insurance, for example, offered through my employer, is simply not very good. It costs more than $700 a month, and it has a $6,000 family deductible, which means that if any of us have stressful or scary health problems or any kind of problem that needs therapy or medicine, we have to find thousands of extra dollars in the budget to take care of ourselves. Like most Minnesotans, we put things off, and when they can't be put off anymore, we worry about how we'll pay the bill.
I know it doesn't have to be this way, because a few years ago I lost my job suddenly. Left without my income and health insurance, we were grateful to discover that we qualified for MinnesotaCare, our state's excellent low-to-moderate income public health insurance. It cost $119 a month to insure our whole family, and the insurance covered everything, no deductibles, no co-pays, just stress-free access to health care. Best insurance I ever had, and if I had it now, a lot of things would be better and easier for me and my family.
The Minnesota Legislature established MinnesotaCare in 1992. The Minnesota Legislature has 201 members, which means somebody only needed to convince 103 people -- 34 senators, 68 representatives, and the governor -- to make it so I could have inexpensive, excellent health care in a difficult time. One hundred and three people is not really a very large number. You might have convinced more people than that to come to your wedding and bring you an expensive gift.
Last legislative session, the legislature passed a bill that will expand MinnesotaCare to Minnesotans who make more than the income limit, beginning with an actuarial analysis being undertaken now and an application to the federal government to create this "public option" for health care in Minnesota. The actual coverage kicks in in 2027, but the legislature will need to appropriate funding for it. Still, a lot of the work has been done. Just a little effort this legislative session and everyone could choose excellent low-cost health insurance. How incredible would that be?
I've been spending time this winter learning about how things change politically, about how persuading those 103 people actually happens, and the hopeful surprise to me has been how much power I really have to cause change. At the state level, thousands of bills are introduced every year. And sure, lobbyists and organizations co-write a lot of that legislation. But a lot of laws get written because individual people build relationships with legislators, tell compelling stories about their needs, and ask for change.
Have you ever asked for a meeting with your state representative or senator and asked for legislation you need? It feels intimidating, but at the state level, generally all you have to do to meet with your legislator is send them an email and ask. For extra power, you can come to the meeting with a brief, a short 1-2 page document that lays out the ask you're making (to support or oppose a bill, to draft new legislation) and why (the research or evidence that supports your ask. Then you just tell your story. Your story might be compelling, and just by showing up, you're building a relationship with those 103 people who can easily change your life for the better. If just meeting all on your lonesome with your legislator feels too overwhelming, many different organizations run lobby days, where you can get training in how to meet with your legislators on whatever issue the organization is championing, as well as participate in pre-arranged meetings with your legislators on that issue.
State legislators have at most one staffer; they often answer their own phone calls and read their own emails. Getting just three neighbors to call your state legislator on a particular issue has a noticeable impact. The law-making process at the state level can also be deeply participatory. Of those thousands of bills, only a fraction of them will receive a vote in the full legislature. In between, there's the committee process, where bills receive a hearing, testimony, and a vote with a small group of legislators who have expertise in the topic. Committees review policy or make decisions about spending and appropriations, and they welcome members of the public to come and testify about the bills. It's another example where building up the courage to speak for three to five minutes about a bill that could have a major impact on you or our world can be the one thing that decides whether that bill moves forward and ultimately becomes law or if it dies in committee.
I realize that meeting with legislators or testifying about bills takes courage, some preparation and time, but it's probably the most powerful impact you can have on the world without having privilege, money, or power. Even if you don’t testify, signing up for email updates about the committees that interest you can offer concrete hope and power for change. For example, just last week, the Minnesota House Higher Education Policy and Finance Committee emailed me this incredible list of free college programs nationwide, which is a resource everyone thinking of going to college ought to have.
Even at the federal level there are opportunities to feel hopeful. Although you might not be able to meet with Rep. Ilhan Omar or Senator Amy Klobuchar as a private citizen just asking for 30 minutes of their time, you and your book club can arrange a meeting with one of their staffers by just emailing and asking for one, and they will listen to you, ask questions, take copious notes, and give advice about how to make the change you're longing for. They will tell you that these meetings are how they build relationships with their constituents, how they identify people who might be able to testify on behalf of a bill, and how they find out what people need and what they should be focusing on.
One hundred and three people can decide whether I have or don't have expensive bills for my health care, and all I have to do is convince them to help me. Just 100 CEOs, leading 100 companies, are responsible for more than 70% of the industrial carbon emissions worldwide since the 1980s. All I have to do is convince them or compel them to change in order to have a habitable planet for the future. That is so doable, so attainable, so hopeful.
If you're in need of hope in this difficult world, don't doomscroll or tweet or paint another protest sign or buy another book or look for a distraction. Consider and identify the tiny group of people who can really change things and go take your opportunities to convince them. I can promise you that even if no one is convinced you will feel empowered. Realizing that these decisions are made by people you can come to know cuts these problems down to a more manageable size. If someone has the power to change things, you can.