Witnessing Advocacy Firsthand

Last week, I witnessed advocacy in action as thousands of Texans showed up in person to support Medicaid and Medicaid expansion. People from all over Texas marched down Congress Avenue, rallied at the Capitol, and visited with elected officials. Some attendees traveled all the way from Brownsville, and woke up at 3:30 in the morning to make the six-hour trip to Austin - talk about commitment! Americans often get a bad rep for not engaging enough in the political process, and to a certain extent, we could do more. But this blog post is for celebration, not condemnation. I want to acknowledge everyone who attended the rally and set an example for those of us who want to advocate, but aren't quite sure yet how to do so in the political realm.

Below are a just a few of those attendees and their reasons for advocating, reasons that may be familiar to many of us. These individuals illustrate that we don't have to be an expert or elected official to make a political statement. Caring about an issue, and showing up when support is needed, does the trick, too.

To see more of these photos, visit this

Texas Well and Healthy Facebook album

Written by Liz Moskowitz. Cross-posted from

State of the Children blog.