Maine’s 2nd legislative session in in full swing and the supplemental budget, proposed by Governor Janet Mills, is still to play for. This is her last budget and she’s trying to win a primary for the very important U.S. Senate seat and so every move she makes is now part of her campaign. Not just hers, but also the Democratic party in Maine and nationally too. Because the national media is obsessed with campaigns, it seems like the race to beat Senator Susan Collins for her long-held seat is of utmost importance. But important how and to who?

Collins has been in office since I was in college. I worked for in the summers 0f 2001 and 2002 and I’m turning 45 in a few months and she’s campaigning, again. During that time she has been a prolific legislator - meaning she introduces and works on many many bills. Even so, within all that time only 25 bill she’s introduced have become law and been signed by a president and a further 29 have been enacted by being incorporated into other laws. This is not a lot of law making for a lawmaker. And Collins is more effective than most senators.

Congress is pretty useless - they pass like 2% of the laws they introduce and they fail to budget and fail to follow most of their own processes and right now there’s nothing the minority party, the Democrats, can really do to hold the administration accountable.

So now what?

My advice or more my plea is for everyone who is spending hours online writing posts about the U.S. men’s hockey team laughing like buffoons in the locker room at the Buffoon in Chief making a completely on brand dumb ass joke to try and seem cool with jocks who would never have accepted him, is to spend one tenth of that time talking in real life to decision makers in your state and even your town.

I had massive secondhand embarrassment watching the complete dork Patel buy his way into the locker room and take over the team’s celebration with his sad “pick me, pick me” smile and jokes. Yeah I get why the joke was sexist and yeah, the guys shouldn’t have laughed, but I thought it was kind of a subdued polite laugh. And frankly, why are we holding a team of hockey players to higher standards for accountability than most grown men AND women with real power and influence. Do most people you know call out demeaning language and jokes or behavior that puts down women in your life? They don’t in mine.

Patel shouldn’t have been in their locker room to begin with - someone should have kept him out and protected the team from the embarrassing MAGA man behavior and inevitable media shitstorm that it would cause - terrible public and press relations. While I understand the joke was gross and their laughing along with Trump, or even celebrating him is rightfully offensive, since he’s a rapist and pedophile. And yet, we elected him - knowing both these things so let’s ease up on a bunch of young people, drinking beer, and trying to celebrate as a team and direct our stories and voices somewhere that it might help.

There is so much outrage online, directed in so many different directions, that it is really nothing, but a time suck. My advice for everyone wondering what they can do now is simple:

In Maine, we have a part-time citizen legislature. It’s a frustrating body with confusing and illogical schedules and paths to get laws passed and then funded. BUT, it like most state legislatures is much more functional and effective then Congress. Every state is grappling with a budget process that funds healthcare, schools, childcare, food assistance, housing programs, and influences wages and prices with their policy choices. They implement federal programs and direct federal and state funds. They are right now trying to decide whether to adopt the tax conformity changes, and Medicaid and SNAP cuts in your state. The way the state plans for this and funds the revenue (or not) will influence the economy in countless ways and will determine the future public service delivery.

Unlike DC, where your email and calls aren’t going to make a difference (except possibly give you an outlet for your frustration which is legitimate), you can easily testify in public hearings at your state house about bills. You can talk to and meet your state lawmakers on your version of the appropriations committee much more easily than any Mainer can meet Susan Collins about her work on appropriations (and she’s actually relatively easy to meet). In some small constituencies in Maine, the number votes which current lawmakers won by is less than numbers of people on SNAP. The margins for these seats is small and the bar for candidates is very low. If you use SNAP, and you’re sick of your representative being silent on food insecurity, tell him.

If you are a parent who can’t afford childcare because there isn't ANY, or you are incensed about your local jail being used as an ICE detention center, find your local lawmaker and tell them a story.

Pick an issue that you can speak about from personal experience and make your voice heard. If you don’t know where to begin, start with kids. If you aren’t sure how to translate the issues you care about into bills or budgets asks, reach out and I’ll help you. Or find a local organization who advocates for children and they will help you. They will welcome you with open arms.

In the words of professor and writer Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom, “Stories are the only things that have ever mattered in the history of the world.”

Stop giving them away for free on social media and start treating them as the precious tools to influence decision makers that they are - and start at home.