This is the last post in a series of 5 posts.

Man. I was supposed to write part 5 like a month ago but I was busy trying to calm my colleagues reinventing public education while reinventing public education myself because we have a government that literally does not give one bit of thought to the well being of the people it governs. 200,000 people are dead (probably more, we'll never know), the whole west coast is on fire, no one seems to be taking any steps to even reform policing, let alone the concrete steps to help end systemic racism that have been shouted by protesters, and I'm starting to doubt the purpose of even spending one second away from indulging in life's basic pleasures in an attempt to stave off existential dread in order to waste a tiny amount of disk space on writing a blog no one will read about political involvement. But, then again, I am stubborn as hell and when my mild depression and anxiety take a damn break for a second I remember that people are generally good when given the chance. Screw it... here's my idea for level 5. If you want to comment or whatever, I'll get a notification and read it.

Level 5: Run the damn show already.

So. You've voted. You've spoken out. You've used your resources. You've even gotten officially involved in the party machine. You've still got a fire left in you and the capacity to do more? Well, you're a better person than me. It's time you...

Run for office!

To be honest, I don't know anything about running for office. My city is too big for me to even feel like I should consider it, particularly given that I'm not particularly friendly or able to network and there are already too many people that look like me in government. I assume it takes a lot of networking. Or friends. I do know that lots of people have been inspired by incompetency of the Republicans (and Democrats, but mostly the Republicans) to step up to the challenge and our government is better off for it. It's becoming more representative and more diverse. If you're up for running for an office, I'm super envious and I'll gladly do steps 1-4 to support your campaign if your platform is progressive and you're a person of color. I'm not much more help than that. Lucky for you, there are a number of resources that already exist!

• Re: Power is looking to support BIPOC candidates and leaders.
• The Collective PAC is a political action committee, which I don't usually support or promote, but they are focused on increasing Black political power, so I'll forgive them for using the tools that perpetuate our corrupted system.
• New American Leaders is dedicated to empowering immigrants and their children to run for office.
• Victory Institute is a group looking to increase the representation of LGBTQ individuals in government.
• Emily's List is focused on helping women run for office and have trainings and other resources.
• Run For Something is a place aimed at getting young folks to run for office.
• NCIL is a group that fights for the rights of folks with disabilities and they also have a great list of resources for running for office.

Well, that's it for my ideas about politics. I hope that one of these has spoken to the folks that read them in some helpful way and that we defeat fascism, make concrete steps towards ending systemic racism, fix the climate, and generally start giving a damn about our fellow humans in November. Stay strong, friends. Someone has got to!