I used to actively avoid politics, and news in general. It felt better for my mental health, and by extension, my physical health for me to do so. Now the situation is such that it not only is much harder to avoid political news, I’m less sure I want to.

And that’s the one positive thing I’m seeing out there right now in the midst of all the division, all the ugliness and propaganda – more people are getting involved. I’m not the only person trying to pay better attention to the government’s shenanigans. I’m 42 years old and before this year you could have put a gun to my head and I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the name of the White House press Secretary or the Secretary of Education, or any of those sorts of offices. This isn’t something I admit proudly, but I also think it’s something I’m not alone in.

I see people paying attention now. Trying to make themselves better informed. When there is a problem with propaganda and fake news online, that folks are making a real effort to educate themselves has to be good for all of us in the long term. I also see people working to make their voices heard.

One bit of advice I heard on this point I’d like to pass along: look up your Representative’s phone numbers and save them in your phone. Then you are ready to make a call and voice your opinion about issues that matter to you when they come along. And they will. That old saying that ‘the only constant is change’, is certainly true today.