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Say what?
Sure, you vote, but you want to do more. What's that? You don't have time to sit down and write your elected official a letter? You don't know who to write or how to find the address, and you're not sure it would make a difference anyway? Guess what. No more excuses. If you're online and have e-mail, the time-honored tradition of telling your politician what needs to be done just got a whole lot easier. If you've got Net access, it's a snap to find your elected representative's e-mail address, and he or she might be among the many who maintain a home page to keep constituents abreast of their accomplishments. Once you've got the address, it's easy to send a message. And with online access to a wide range of government documents and primary-source information, it's easier than ever to find facts to bolster your case. If you're interested in a particular national issue, many public-advocacy and special-interest groups -- such as the Rainforest Action Network or the Christian Coalition -- often have ready-made forms that require only your name before you press a button to send it to the relevant politician. So all right, this sounds incredibly easy. So much so, it may seem that e-mail makes less of an impact than does a letter. Not so, say a bunch of congressional aides. (We asked.) Of course, the congressional aides say their offices read every piece of e-mail and that each one makes an impact. If one whiff of democracy in action gives you a raging fever, go ahead, tell every last politician you can find exactly what you think. But keep in mind that messages from constituents count more than those from others. Whether or not your voice will make a difference is an eternal question, but if no one ever spoke up, we'd all be in big trouble. Will your message be the one that turns the tide? Maybe so. The Web offers unprecedented ease in registering your opinion and in finding out just what your elected representatives have been up to. So quit complaining, get online, and speak your mind.
-- Ezra Gale
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