finally: depending who you ask, there are somewhere between 30,000 and 500,000 elected positions in the US, which is a staggering number
but if good, thoughtful, caring people (i.e. you) don't run, these positions are almost all won by party hacks or well-funded pro-business conservatives or tea-party types who want to burn the government down
in short: if you're not thinking about running for some kind of government position in this day n age, you should be!
@mrgah I'm independent (super lefty though) but I still love this idea: https://www.runforsomething.net/
well you know, state legislative races are usually cheap to run (under $10k), decided by hundreds or a couple thousand votes, and state legislatures often meet part time so that people can work normal jobs
(and the demands of local positions are even less)
I mean, why not run for the state legislature as a lefty independent?
I was curious how much it would cost to register with the secretary of state to run in the legislature where I'm from: $85
no, of course-- and it depends immensely where you are, how willing you are to latch on to existing parties, if you can self-finance, etc.
I've been interested recently because of having a home base in a very flippable state legislative district, but even a state district is a _lot_ of ground to cover, a lot of doors to knock on, and so on
@mrgah right. That's what's neat about https://www.runforsomething.net/, they'll help you figure it out, if you're cool with identifying with the Democrats
oh, I know-- I'm scheduled to be on one of their conference calls soon, and I'm thinking seriously about a couple of state districts
@mrgah nice! Good luck, wherever it goes
thanks! and to you, too, should you ever take the plunge
I suspect that the former state rep of the seat I'm most interested in will probably make a bid for it in 2018, but I've got my eye on a few other things, too
@mrgah the real cost is time and effort, obvs