Thank you for bearing with me as I took a short break from blogging at the end of the year. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to think about how the blog and my social media channels could all work together more seamlessly to achieve the mission at Political Charge. And I think I’ve got it.
My mission across all platforms remains the same. Namely, I want to inspire Democratic voters to take political action. And I do this by making the connection between issues in the news that people care about, and the action they can take to improve the situation.
I will continue to share, explain, educate and entertain, because I love doing this and know that it helps draw people in. The more they understand how our democracy works, the more they feel empowered to do something about it. The messages I get from folks about how they got involved with a campaign, or phonebanked for the first time, or felt ready to talk to a family member about an issue, it’s these things that keep me going.
All that said, I know you all like to consume your political news and insights in different ways, so here’s what you can expect from me on the different platforms I use:
Political Charge, the blog — Over the years, the blog has proved to be the best place for me to share resources and more evergreen content, like lists of which senators are coming up for re-election, explainers about how the government works, effective messaging tactics, etc. so I’ll keep doing that intermittently throughout the year. But I’ve also found that people on all platforms like good news and cartoons, and so I will do a weekly recap post each Saturday to capture those things. So you can start off your weekend with a smile!
I’m also exploring reaching out to some great collaborators to write guest posts for the blog to talk about timely issues facing our democracy. So stay tuned for that!
Twitter, Mastodon, & Post — These are the more text-based social media platforms and are the best place to keep up with me as I share breaking news and my thoughts about the news of the day. It’s also a great place to “chat” with me, in the comments section. For the time being, I’m pretty much cross-posting on all three platforms until it becomes clear to me which one will be the most useful.
TikTok & Instagram — Video content continues to be a great way to engage people around politics. Although there are plenty of political junkies who follow me on these platforms, I’ve found they are the BEST place to reach folks who are much newer to the political arena. Explainers about what’s going on in our government, basic civics, election results and why they matter, do really well in video format.
And now, let’s look at some of the good news that happened this week, along with a handful of standout cartoons!
Highlights from this week:
On the anniversary of January 6th, Biden bestowed the Presidential Citizens Medal on Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman and 11 others.
Democrats were completely unified in backing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker of the House on every ballot.
The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the state’s six-week abortion ban violates the state’s constitutional right to privacy and is therefore unconstitutional.
The FDA approved abortion medication to be sold at retail pharmacies with a prescription, and the DOJ issued an advisory that the post office could continue to legally deliver abortion medication by mail.
223,000 jobs were added in December, exceeding expectations, while unemployment fell to 3.5%, tying a 50 year low.
Consistent with Biden’s Executive Order, the Federal Trade Commission announced a rule to ban non-compete agreements, which is a huge win for workers.
The Speaker debacle is finally over, but not before we finally saw the media flip the “disarray” narrative over to the Republicans.
Standout cartoons:
By Michael deAdderBy Ann TelnaesBy Mike LuckovichBy Bill BramhallBy RJ Matson
Thank you for following Political Charge in all the ways that you do. If you are inspired to do so, consider joining my Patreon to help support this work that I do. Now, let’s get on with 2023!
