This was a private message but I've decided to post my comments publically.

Elonka wrote:
] Heh, I have trouble with thinking of the name Tom/Decius and
] "apathetic" in the same thought. ;) You're one of the least
] apathetic people I know! (grin)

I'm not apathetic. Statistically, most of my peers are.

] Just out of curiosity, how often do you vote? When's the last
] time that you voted?

I usually try to vote. I did not vote in the last Presidential election because I was flying to South Korea that day. (And I must say I was quite surpised a month later when I returned to find that we did not yet have a leader.) (Yes, I realise that you can pre-vote, but I was far too busy to research it.)

I last voted in the 2002 California elections. I voted against a communist (not exagerating) electric power system for San Francisco which was literally going to be operated by administrators who admitedly didn't know anything about anything other then that they hate corporations (There was only ONE engineer running for PUD administrator in ONE district). It was defeated by less then 1000 votes.

] Regardless, I do agree with you that it's an excellent idea to
] encourage people to vote.

Its not just voting.

We have an extremely effective propaganda system in this country. I beleive the interest in the Internet/blogging is basically a reaction to that, whether people understand it or not. They want more detail and broader perspectives, and they want to control what they see.

The difference between our legal rhetoric and that of the parliments is stark. People don't watch cspan because it is specifically intended to be boring and obtuse. We have to fight this, not just in terms of access (which has been a hard fight in and of itself) but in terms of accessability.

We need more detailed input into our government's actions then a left/right switch every four years. California leads the way in this respect. There are lots of referendums on every ballot and they send you a packet with pro and con information on each item.

We need more organized voting. Do not vote with a party and do not vote as a generalist ("I like this guy."). Pick a specific issue that you care about. Pick a position on that issue. Pre-announce your position on that issue so that politicians have the opportunitiy to respond to you. Create organizations of other people who will vote the same way you will and sell this organization as a part of a coallition that a politican may court in the context of building enough votes to put him/her into office.

Basically, "Special Interests" are GOOD NOT BAD. Attempts to limit them are attempts to limit democracy. When you vote left/right instead of voting on specifics that you UNDERSTAND, you have less impact on the situation, not more. Your input becomes more obtuse and more related to your identity then your thoughts. Left/right is not important. Right/wrong is important, and none of us has the capacity to understand all the right/wrongs nor are any of the politicians right or wrong on every issue. Understand the right/wrong on AN issue and pursue THAT issue ALONE.

Democracy is not an on/off switch. Its many shades of gray. This country could be a great deal more democratic. Information technology enables this because it scaling democracy is, essentially, an information technology problem.