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“I’m just too depressed to pay attention to politics anymore,” my friend told me on the telephone last night. I asked her what had depressed her. “Oh, it was the election,” she answered. “I’m just really bummed that we lost.”

On the telephone, no one can see when you roll your eyes, so she’s still my friend. I couldn’t count the number of times I’ve heard this kind of comment from people who call themselves progressives. They say that they just don’t participate in politics, and often don’t even read the news, because the election made them “too depressed.”

The problem I have with these statements is not just that so many progressives are giving up on politics, but that they’re doing so because of a mistaken equation of politics with big political campaigns for public office.

If I were to place all of my hopes on a political candidate, well, I guess I could get depressed pretty easily too. I take a look at the kinds of candidates who offer themselves up for important offices like the presidency, and get feeling discouraged myself.

For example, I read last night about Hillary Clinton’s speech to the Democratic Leadership Council last night. The DLC is an organization of right wing Democrats who seek to convert the Democratic Party into an ideological copy of the Republican Party.

Hillary Clinton called for Democrats to stop disagreeing about the issues and unite. She said, “We Democrats have not yet succeeded in isolating and defeating the far right, in part because we have allowed ourselves to be split between left, right and center.”

Well, I’ve been trying to figure out just what Senator Clinton was getting at with that statement. On the most practical level, Clinton would love for her own candidacy to become the rallying point around which progressive Democrats could unite with the right wingers of the DLC. Beyond that, the basic implication is that Senator Clinton expects us to put the good of the Democratic Party above the good of the causes that we believe in.

That proposal doesn’t sit too well with me. Yes, I am a Democrat, but I’m a Democrat because I believe that the Democratic Party has the best chance of standing up for my progressive values. It’s the issues that matter to me, not the political party. So, there is no way in hell I will take part in Senator Clinton’s great effort to get the Democrats to unite behind the party line and support right wing politicians like Joseph Lieberman, Sanford Bishop, or Ben Nelson.

Candidates are important, because if they win public office, they have great power to affect change. However, candidates and people who hold political office don’t have all the power.

Right now, there are organizations who are not beholden to any political party who are working to promote the core ideals that progressives believe in: Liberty, responsibility, optimism and humanity. If you’re turned off of electoral politics right now, you can transfer your attention to the efforts of these groups and be sure that your ideals won’t be compromised by politicians who shift their positions according to whatever they think will get them elected.

American Civil Liberties Union
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Environmental Defense
People for the American Way
Union of Concerned Scientists

You can also do a bit of research and find some truly progressive legislation that is deserving of your support. As I’ve discussed in the last few days, H.Res. 373 is particularly deserving, as an attempt to force the White House to work toward nuclear disarmament, abandon its plans for new nuclear weapons, stop the weaponization of space, end the policy of preemptive war, and replace the current failed anti-terrorist policies with more realistic progressive alternatives. Also known as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Commitments Act, this bill is not getting the attention from progressives that it deserves, but it has been introduced to the floor of the House of Representatives.

The time for asking, “Why won’t someone do something?” is over. Someone has done something. You can support the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Commitments Act by urging your member of Congress to add their cosponsorship to the bill, or you can do nothing. You can support one of the reliable non-profit organizations listed above, or you can spend your money on cable television service that brings you re-runs of Full House.

As for feeling “depressed” about politics, well, that’s your right. You should keep in mind, however, that it’s just what the Republicans are counting on from you. Will you let them down?