Participation in Politics

Well, congratulations to the USA. There was a larger participation in this election than any election in memorable history. My hope, is that people continue their involvement in their government. I myself was jaded until I got inspired by the grassroots campaign of Howard Dean in 2004. If you were too jaded to vote before this election, use your excitement as a springboard to having your voice continuously heard. Educate yourself on the issues that are most important to you, one great tool is opencongress.org. For those that voted for Barack Obama's hope, make sure that hope isn't crushed by corporate lobbyists and others who find that hope isn't in their best interest. For those that voted for any other candidate make your voices heard as well. There are elections again in 2010 that will decide who will sit in many congressional seats. Make sure your values are fought for by your congressmen and women. If they aren't, remind them that you can always find someone else who will fight for your values. Maybe you'll even run yourself!

It's November 5th, it is time to really take back our country. A good place to start may be November5.org.

Open Congress

In the past I have posted about a congressional tracking tool called govtrack.us. Recently I came across a new site called OpenCongress.org. It uses data provided by govtrack.us to do something a little different. OpenCongress.org seems better laid out and has more of a social/web 2.0 vibe to it. This social vibe may make it easier to find current hot topics being debated on the hill. Check it out today and see for yourself. It's important that as many citizens as possible know what is going on in our government.

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day!