Editing Advocacy (section)

== Topics ==
{{see also|social issue}}
People advocate for a large number and variety of topics. Some of these are clear-cut [[social issue]]s that are universally agreed to be problematic and worth solving, such as [[human trafficking]]. Others—such as [[abortion]]—are much more divisive and inspire strongly held opinions on both sides. There may never be a consensus on this latter type of issues, but intense advocacy is likely to remain. In the [[United States]], any issue of widespread debate and deeply divided opinion can be referred to as a social issue. The [[Library of Congress]] has assembled an extensive list of social issues in the United States, ranging from vast ones like abortion to [[same-sex marriage]] to smaller ones like [[hacker (computer security)|hacking]] and academic [[cheating]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0516/2005018778.html|title=Table of contents for Social issues in America|work=loc.gov}}</ref>

Topics that appear to involve advancing a certain positive ideal are often known as causes. A particular cause may be very expansive in nature — for instance, increasing [[liberty]] or fixing a broken political system. For instance in 2008, U.S. presidential candidate [[Barack Obama]] utilized such a meaning when he said, "this was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/us/politics/03obama-transcript.html|title=Barack Obama's Caucus Speech|date=3 January 2008|work=The New York Times}}</ref> [[Change.org]] and [[Causes (company)|Causes]] are two popular websites that allow people to organize around a common cause.

Topics upon which there is universal agreement that they need to be solved include, for example, [[human trafficking]], [[poverty]], water and [[sanitation]] as a [[Right to water|human right]].<ref name="unicef">{{cite book|last1=UNICEF|title=Advocacy toolkit - A guide to influencing decisions that improve children's lives|date=2010|publisher=UNICEF|pages=144|url=http://www.unicef.org/evaluation/files/Advocacy_Toolkit.pdf|access-date=11 February 2016}}</ref>

"Social issues" as referred to in the United States also include topics (also known as "causes") intended by their advocates to advance certain ideals (such as [[Social equality|equality]]) include: [[civil rights]], [[LGBT rights]], [[women's rights]], [[environmentalism]], and [[veganism]].