Political Action Tools: Where Conviction Meets Action

So What Do We Do About it?

Tell the Obama Administration What You Think

Now that the Obama administration is up and running, don't think that the job of citizen advocacy is over. Here's the White House website where you can keep tabs on what's happening, subscribe to the blog, get general information about the administration's appointees and agenda, and submit your ideas and input. Now that the stimulus package has passed, the really hard work begins--and we haven't even started on universal health care or so many other important issues. So go ahead, do something about it! Like Aretha, you deserve R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

As the health reform agenda heats up, now is the time to make your feelings known. Join the Firedoglake Action--Click to see how to send a message about health care to your representatives.

Questions on health care for Obama? Ask them here.

And in the while you're at it category...Want to send a message to Secretaty of State Hillary Clinton? Just click here. You'll find a form to fill out and submit. Or text her here, or at 90822. I like the "Dipnote", the Secretary of State's blog, also on twitter @dipnote.

Keep Tabs on Obama's Reproductive Rights, Health, and Justice Actions Here

Political Action Tools at Your Fingertips: The Sunlight Foundation Sheds Light on Political Issues

by Taryn Kutujian
We live in an age where credibility and quality of information, particularly on the Internet, is our primary concern. We want to be able to find no-nonsense, non-biased information, and we want to receive it from reliable sources that won’t try and tell us how to think, and why.

With the tagline "Sunlight is the best disinfectant", The Sunlight Foundation uses technology to give each of us an opportunity to find exactly what our elected representatives are doing and to make government transparent.

The Foundation's resources explain the layers of political jargon in a way that unearths the potential benefits and consequences to the average constituent. On their website, you can find links to Congresspedia.org, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and the Library of Unified Information Sources (LOUIS), among others.

While many people feel burdened and intimidated by the endless information that technology has provided, the Sunlight Foundation has devoted its entire existence to coaching us through every bit of bad information and redirecting us towards resources that are user-friendly and written in “plain English”.

Want to know what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been up to? Interested in which lobbyists have the ear of your favorite presidential candidate? How about a glance at the most recent policy decisions in your home state? Find out at The Sunlight Foundation.

Update: The great folks at the Sunlight Foundation continue to add features that make it easier for busy but caring citizens to find out what's going on in government, stay engaged, and make our voices heard. Here's a sampling of their latest links to citizen effectiveness:

One tool you'll love is from OpenCongress.org -- "My Political Notebook" (MyPN) where you can save and share your favorite political content from around the Web.

Got an idea of how to improve access to information about the Senate and its work? Be a part of the Open Senate Project -- a bipartisan, collaborative initiative to recommend how to improve public access to the US Senate. This project is modeled on the Foundation's parallel initiative, the Open House Project -- which has catalyzed widespread discussion of congressional transparency.

Or perhaps you'd like to work for transparency? Find your next gig at Transparency Jobs, which aggregates all the employment opportunities for transparency-related careers from the US federal government and non-government organizations.

They also have a few ideas on how the Obama administration can undo the culture of secrecy and transform the new presidential administration into a transparent operation. Read the open letter to the Obama administration -- and post a comment to give your own advice.

Finally, Sunlight recently launched a new version of their Congress word-of-the-day site, Capitol Words. It provides extensive new features including pages for individual lawmakers and whole state-wide delegations and the words they use the most.

Wow, this is really revolutionary! In fact, the Revolutionary leaders and later the drafters of the Constitution could never have envisioned the technological advances that would allow for truly participatory democracy.

But the technology alone can't do it for us. We have to use it to stay abreast of events and speak out piece as policy ideas are being generated, then put through the proverbial sausage grinder and made into legislation.

So get informed and get going!

 

 

Now, How Amazing Is This? Find 375 Over 500 Women Political Bloggers Here!

Here I am with Hamilton College pro-choice student leaders-the next generation of political activists.