INTERESTING TIMES

Are you American? Or a United States citizen, more specifically? Have you ever written a real paper letter to your representative in Congress? Or to a Senator? If yes, what fired you up enough to get you to write? How long ago was it? Do you ever go publicly protest, and hold a sign? Been out recently? Do you fill out petitions online? Do you vote? Where do you draw the line in your efforts to influence the course of this nation?

It appears to me that most of us do very little. I fill out a few petitions, and send a little bit of money sometimes, and put some effort into researching my votes, but that's about it. I haven't been putting any real energy into the project. I feel like congress should take care of this stuff for me, that I'm no expert and somebody more expert than me should be making the decisions. I don't really want to OWN my part in a democracy because it's a whole lot of work. But as our nation suffers increasing challenges, people are noticing, and activism seems to be on the rise. I was heartened when I heard support for Audit the Fed on an Occupy youtube video. The new activism is less party oriented than at any time in my political consciousness. There is a chance that we might be able to get something done.
( ruminations )