Laura, this call to action warms my heart and lights my imagination on fire.

One of the most rewarding parts of activism, are the relationship we form with others doing the work beside us. I came to love and be loved in return by people I never would have even met without my civic work. I've been doing this work since I was sixteen, and 53 years later I've never been lonely, or felt alone, small, or hopeless.

I came to Medium to continue this work, only to find Trump dominating every effing conversation. Given my interests and experience of life, that defeated my purpose. I woke to find your article and felt the very first genuine spark of excitement that I've felt here, since I joined. Go Laura !!!!

When Obama was running, he launched this Get Out the Vote thing for young, and first time voters. I hopped on board, grabbed a few activist friends and we organized voter registration concerts for young people in our region. For the first time, ever, young people, of all colours and persuasions, joined the effort and holy cow were we successful. At one concert alone, I personally registered 553 young voters and there were 12 of us working at that registration table. My girlfriend and I talked with kids who had all kinds of ideas about ways to get out the vote - and they were super excited about civics too.

Keeping something like that going, takes money, and if you don't have the money, it kills the enthusiasm. In a nutshell, kids will work their tails off for things they believe in, but they won't work to raise money they have to hand over to an organization. It was up to us adults to fund an organization for them. And when we were not able to do it, we lost the young.