Advocacy

Baby Steps to the Elevator by Rebecca D. Ramos

Sometimes efforts to change policies in the political arena feel like that scene in “What About Bob?” when Bill Murray, in an attempt to address his psychosis, is coached by his psychiatrist, Richard Dreyfuss, to take baby steps out of the room, baby steps down the hall, and baby steps onto the elevator.  The doctor wants his patient to set small reasonable goals one day at a time to work on that “baby step.”

So, baby step to bill introduction.

Baby step to legislative champion.

Baby step to subcommittee passage.

Baby step to floor debate.

Another word for baby steps in advocacy is incremental change.  Incremental change is how change happens in South Carolina.  Our political culture does not support comprehensive change, especially on social issues.  For organizations working on policies that need agency support, desire state funding, or require individual behavioral change, baby steps are the only option.

Don’t be alarmed or disheartened.  This is good news, actually.  Once you know how change happens in South Carolina, you can move away from spending time wishing for change to adopting actions that make change happen.

The truth is every bill that is passed or ordinance adopted began with a baby step and these baby steps began long before the organization or their advocates began working on a bill or an ordinance. They began with small efforts – efforts that all of us engaged in policy work or believe in a different future for South Carolina need to do every day.

So, commit to a baby step.  In thirty minutes a week, you can

-        Get connected with elected officials through email, telephone, facebook, or hand written note.

-        Stay educated on the issues by reading research briefs, the news, or the ESMMSC website.

-        Be heard by writing a letter to the editor, voicing your opinion on a blog, or in other media.

-        Stay engaged by following bills on the SC Statehouse website. (It has a handy bill tracker that is easy to create and update!)

-        Volunteer for ESMMSC or one of its partners on their advocacy committees.

-        Act on e-alerts from advocacy groups, like ESMMSC, by contacting legislators when voices need to be heard.

Start your first baby step today. The more we practice our baby steps, the faster the policy we want will happen. So one day, with a passage of a bill, ordinance, or resolution, you are saying, baby step onto the elevator… baby step into the elevator… I’m *in* the elevator!