October 2025 - Find a friend and change the world
Art by Josh MacPhee
Dear friends,
The day after the 2016 U.S. elections, Katie Fahey—like many around the world—was stunned by the results. But, she wasn’t just looking at the results for U.S. president, she also was zeroing in on the results in her home state of Michigan. Then, starting with one short Facebook post, the 27-year-old political novice would ultimately help change the political landscape in Michigan.
In reviewing the detailed election results, Katie noticed that the electorate in Michigan was a near even split between the Democrats and Republicans, but the outcomes of the Michigan U.S. Congressional races and the Michigan legislature did not reflect that. Republicans won 9 U.S. congressional seats in Michigan and Democrats only won 5, despite Republicans winning 48% of all votes compared to 47% for Democrats. There was a similar pattern in the state legislature: Republicans retained control of the Michigan House by winning 63 state House seats compared to Democrats only winning 47 seats, despite the statewide vote totals being deadlocked 49%-49% between the parties. Katie was noticing lopsided election results due to partisan gerrymandering, or the process of creating voting districts for partisan advantage—often in odd shapes or splitting communities in ways that do not make sense.
On the Thursday after election day, Katie wrote a simple Facebook post that said “I’d like to take on gerrymandering in Michigan…If you’re interested in doing this as well please let me know.” Katie understood that partisan gerrymandering was unfair and anti-democratic. She believed that in a thriving democracy, representatives should better reflect the views of the electorate. Katie’s post quickly went viral with many people across the state wanting to do the work with Katie. She organized a call for about 50 people and they set a goal of getting citizen-created district maps as a ballot initiative for the 2018 election. This meant they had to get hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to get it on the ballot. Katie formed an all-volunteer team and they ended up getting 400,000 signatures well before the deadline. Michigan voters passed the ballot initiative (Prop 2) by a wide margin—61%-39%, much wider than typical partisan results in Michigan. This result meant that a citizen-created non-partisan commission now creates the electoral maps used in Michigan elections and the election results have been a much better reflection of vote totals.
This example highlights the role we can play as changemakers. Katie stepped forward with an idea, a desire to take action, and shared it with her friends. This helped lead to thousands taking action together to change the political system in Michigan. We might not all have the same large impact as Katie and her friends, but we can mobilize ourselves around issues big and small to make a difference. If you look around, you’ll see examples of this happening. Ruha Benjamin wrote in Viral Justice, “All the great transformations that society undergo rely on the low-key scheming of everyday people.” If we want to make a better world possible, we need to do some “low-key scheming” with our friends like Katie did.
Take care and invite your friends into your cause,
Paul
Today’s Key Point: We can make a better world possible by gathering people around an issue and taking action together.
Today’s Reflection Questions:
What is a concrete issue you want to address?
Who are you already connected to that might also want to address this issue? What organizations already exist for that issue?
What is stopping you from gathering your friends to strategize how to take action together?
What is one thing you could commit to doing this month to bring people together around an issue?
Quote of the Month:
“We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
-Howard Zinn
Inspired reading/listening/viewing:
“One woman’s Facebook post leads to Michigan vote against gerrymandering.” Bridge Michigan.
“The Optimism of Uncertainty”, blog post by Howard Zinn
Viral Justice by Ruha Benjamin
¡Adelante! Leadership Podcast with Lourdes Flores - “Everyone has gifts and talents to share with the world”