Who Represents You?

Even people who aren't very involved in politics must be aware that things just aren't going very well right now in Washington. With about 70% of Americans selecting "wrong track" for the direction our nation is heading and scandals popping-up left and right (well, mostly "right"*), maybe it's time for you to think about what you can do.

Too many Americans seem to believe that showing up once every four years to vote for the President** is good enough. Some people can't even be bothered to do that! But I'm sure that you want to do more, but aren't really sure how. Well, here's one fairly easy thing that you can do. Go to this (non-partisan) website:

Sign up for "vote monitor". Find out how your Senators and your Representative vote - delivered right to your inbox! Discover if their votes represent what you believe and what's best for your community or if they vote straight party or for corporations or special-interest groups.*** If you want to even get more involved, this site also makes it very easy to send an email to let them know that you are pleased or pissed**** about the vote they cast. Or, even better, write to them about upcoming votes!

One word of warning - the better the name of the bill sounds, the more suspicious you should be. Example: If you see one called "Bill to Make Cute Babies Even Cuter," its probably a bill to give corporations money to out-source your job or to allow nuclear waste to be served in your school's cafeteria as a healthy side-dish.

Next time you head to the polls (and that would be this fall, not 2008, get registered now if you need to), you will actually know more about the names on the ballot then who had the most money to advertise at you!


* That's a ha-ha, people!

** And a bunch of other elections that are on the ballot at the same time, even when the voter has no real clue who the people running are and what they stand for.

*** Party aside, these folks know where their bread is buttered!

**** You probably shouldn't use the word "pissed" in your letter.

posted by Annie at 1:20 PM