10 things men NEED to do in politics for men and boys

1. Put Men’s/Boy’s/Parent’s Rights and issues above ALL other issues and make it your voting issue.
2. Register to vote.
3. Register in a political party.
4. Vote in every primary and general election.
5. Focus on what YOUR party does and not what the others don’t do!
6. Know ALL you elected representatives at the state and federal level.
7. Write ALL your elected representatives on specific men’s issues.
8. Write formal letters of complaint regarding any and ALL biased treatment you are subjected to.
9. Know your political process and the issues you advocate for.
10. Only support candidates who publicly support your issues!

NY MAN was formed 20 years ago as a political action committee and has been actively lobbying for men’s issues since then as a PAC and then a vehicle for grass roots lobbying.  While these 10 bullet items seem like common sense, it is amazing the number of people who don’t do the political basics needed for change.

First, to foster change for men’s issues men need to make them political issues.  Amazingly, while men/father’s complain of the unjust imposition on their rights or unequal treatment, many will point to other issues when it comes time to support a candidate or a party.  This occurs even with so called movement “leaders” who hide their political tribalism under the guise of “other issues”.  This lets the politico avoid having to deal with our issues.  And often the denial of your rights or due process undermines the other issues, a fact addressed in “Undermine parental rights to undermine all other rights”.

The primary way to be politically active is register to vote and register in a party and then vote in both primary and general elections.  Right now in NYS up to 70% of people don’t bother to vote in many elections.  What this says to politicians is that most people are happy with the status quo and they don’t need to address issues.  Politicians are well aware of who votes and how often.  And by registering in a party you get an extra vote, this being very important as in many areas one party or the other always win’s the general election.  Being in a party allows you to interject the issues into that party during primaries.

But Red, Blue, Green, Gold, or Tea: Which is the party for men’s issues?  Sadly, the answer is NONE!  But why does no party adopt few, if any, issues of importance to men?  The answer is men haven’t made them.  Now this is usually when someone goes off on “the other” political party with a tirade of what that party has done to persecute men ignoring the fact their party has done nothing for men and thus the political discussion get polarized right from the get go.  That’s why we added #5.  Stop complaining about what other didn’t do and look at the party you are registered in as that’s where you can foster change.

If there are no candidates that support mens issues, or one running unopposed, then do NOT vote for “the lesser of 2 evils” but register your protest with a write-in vote.  In Saratoga County in NYS Doug Smith promotes a protest write in vote for family court judge.  By writing in a protest vote you are letting politicians know that you are a person who votes and they do NOT address your issues.  You can bet that if a large number of people put in a protest vote that politicians will look to find out what the issue is they can support to get those votes.

And if it’s a “3rd party” candidate who supports the issues don’t get bamboozled by the “spoiler vote” argument that if you don’t vote for a major party candidate you are “voting for the other guy”.  That is nothing but cover for the fact they do not support reform and change.  We get that from Republican’s in NYS who tell us not to vote for Larry Sharpe even while their candidate isn’t on the record for change.  You want OUR vote then you support OUR issues or we’ll vote for someone else.  Period.

Political activism doesn’t stop after the election.  You should know ALL your elected representatives at the state and national level and you should engage them IN WRITING and on the phone on the issues of importance to you.  You need to understand how the political process works and at what level of government the complaints or reform requests should be directed.  A good example is shared parenting.  At the state level legislation is needed to enact change but at the federal level the issue is one of Parental Rights.   If you are unsure of the issues NY MAN has links and discussions of most issues which you can use as templates.

Filing formal letters of complaint seems like a no brainer but the fact of the matter is most men just don’t bother to do it.  Even though the bureaucratic process is often stacked against you and it will do nothing about your problem, it is important to get formal complaints on the record.   NY MAN met with the Chief Matrimonial Judge in NYS with a laundry list of complaints of injustice direct from fathers only to find out that the courts had NO official complaints on file.  The lack of formal complaints made it look like ours were isolated incidents.

A good practice for writing complaints or advocating for changes in law, policy, or procedure is to use a large CC list and send the issue to a lot of people.  For example, a letter about a problem with your county child support collections should be sent to the state office, federal office, and all your elected representatives.  This will often shed light on a problem and make it harder for the one causing the problem to sweep it under the rug.

Also an individual problem sent with a policy change to correct it not only supports the need to fix your individual case but your individual case also supports the need for structural changes in the program.   A good example is draconian child support collection methods which are policies enforced at the state level in response to Title IVd incentive payments to the states from the federal government.

Thought precedes all action.  The vast majority of negative outcomes for men and boys are due to government polices and laws of the denial of rights and equal treatment under the law.   It’s time for men to think about men’s and boy’s issues then act to change political systems which are harming us or denying our rights.  If we are to be an equal rights movement then we need to be politically active.