Power Conversion

Lately I've been looking at my todo list. In no particular order, it includes:
Exercise
Update e-mail lists
C++ Project
Do great good
Blog
Civic/community involvement
Get to know people
Photography
...

During most of my college years, various advisors assured me that college was when I had the most free time. I'm finding that more and more true. So much of my time is spent doing the basics - trying to keep the apartment clean, running chores, feeding myself, working, and the like.

There's no doubt that I could make better use of my time. And I hope to, a little bit. But lately I've been pondering the Michigan political race and pondering "How did Michigan manage to nominate two people for governor who inspire me so little?"

More to the point, if everyone did what I did, would it change? What does it mean for me to be intelligently involved in politics with my time and money?

Here's another way I've been looking at the problem: Why is it so hard for me to convert my money into influence? I'm fairly well off in one of the wealthiest nations. Why is it so hard for me to convert money to influence in clear, concise ways?

But there's no "$20,000 for sane politics" donation that I can make. There's no "Donate $10,000 to change public education" option. (Although for $10,000, I can fund building a church in India.) There's plenty of good causes I can donate to. But generally, the progress they make is slow, uncertain, and filled with set backs.

It makes me appreciate the appeal of lobbyist: Hire them, and they'll influence the people in power toward your way of thinking. Part of me wonders if we over-emphasize the contributions of the single individual in American and fail to look at the impact of many people working slowly and steadily toward a goal. Part of me wonders if I simply don't realize how little influence 1 in 300,000,000 has.

And part of me is reminded that while influence through power is cool, it doesn't change people's hearts. That's a much slower and harder process.