Elections are like traffic circles, says Marjorie Clark, a retired educator who served Virginia public schools for 32 years.

“We have a new opportunity to decide on our future direction,” she says. “We can change direction, continue forward, or veer slightly, but whatever direction we choose will determine the next four years for our country.”

The direction we choose can also shape the course of education for a decade or more, as we’ve seen with Bush’s No Child Left Behind law.

With the 2012 Presidential election almost upon us, Clark says it’s more important than ever for all educators – whether they’re retired or still in the classroom – to stand up for public education.

“If you believe a solid education is the best preparation for each person’s future, and that preparing all students to lead productive and worthwhile lives benefits our communities and country as well as ourselves, we must select the President and Congressional leaders who will commit to standing with us in achieving this excellence,” Clark says.

But it’s not just public education that’s at stake. There are community issues, the state of the economy, and the very principle of democracy our country was founded on.

“With no limits on corporate and PAC spending, will we continue to be a democracy where every vote matters, where people can make individual choices, and where candidates and campaigns will listen to voters and seek their support?” she asks. “Or will we become an oligarchy where four or five individuals who can spend billions of dollars to support a particular candidate can control the media message and the election for their own interests?”

Clark became involved actively in politics in the 1980’s when an alumnus of her college was running for public office.

“I got hooked on the involvement and have been an activist ever since, serving on the Virginia Democratic State Central Committee for more than 20 years, serving as Chair of the Democratic 7th District (Congressional) Committee, and being a delegate to the US National Democratic Convention five times.”

But you don’t have to be a political “junkie” to make a difference. If you’re reading this magazine, Clark says, you’re already a committed education advocate. And if you’ve built a career in the field of education, you certainly know how to be a self-starter.

“Retired educators are in the perfect position to take on a more active role in politics,” Clark says. “Not only do they have more time than when they were working, they have a broad educational background. They have wide experience with diverse populations and their needs and interests. They are used to planning ahead and then carrying out the plan within a specific time frame, and they have a broad spectrum of leadership abilities.”

With all of that in your arsenal, you can make a big impact in the upcoming election. Here’s how you can get involved right now:
Call your local association to find out which campaigns they are endorsing and the contact information for those campaigns.

Call the campaigns to volunteer to help right away through helping at the polls on Election Day, telephoning either with a phone bank or from your own home.

Write Letters to the Editor for your local publications.

Hand out brochures and materials at community events or in your own neighborhood as you are walking your dog or exercising.

Host or attend events to support a candidate.

Encourage the campaigns you support to address the issues that are important to you, like education, retirement, or health care.

Sign on to e-mail lists that announce campaign developments and forward information to your own e-mail contacts from home.

Clark also recommends doing everything you can through e-mail, telephone, snail mail and other contacts to “discourage dirty campaign tactics like voter suppression through false rumors about registration, inaccurate election calendars, incorrect precinct locations, and outright campaign lies.”

PolitiFact reports are helpful in determining the truth or falsehood of campaign statements, and you can find them online with a quick Google search.

Finally, she says when advocating for a candidate, don’t go on the attack against his or her opponent.

“All candidates have both strengths and weaknesses,” she says. “Speak most strongly about how your candidate addresses specific issues of importance to our future.”

Like a traffic circle, the political system goes around and around and there seems to be no end to the cycle of partisanship, but Clark says it’s vital to continue pressing for public education.

“It’s sometimes discouraging for those of us who feel like we have fought all of these fights to go back and fight them again,” says Clark, who retiried in 2002. “But if we have to fight again, we will.”

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