So Now What?

There are many in our nation who woke up this morning with a newly found interest in politics.  Last night’s vote in the House will be a wake up call to many, and if you’re one of those newly awakened voters wondering what you can do and how you can get involved, consider these things:

Figure Out What You Believe and Why You Believe It.
It’s easy to think that since you’ve always voted for Republicans that you believe what the Republicans believe.  Maybe you do, but maybe you don’t.  You owe it to yourself to figure out what you believe and understand why you believe it.

Get Involved in a Local Party.
One of the things I didn’t realize when I had my political awakening is that there are local chapters of political parties.  In these local chapters, you can get involved on the local level.  Search Google for your party in your county, and you’ll likely find it pretty quickly.  In my experience with my county’s Republican party and the one in a neighboring county, the people are very friendly and welcoming to newcomers.

Know Your Representatives.
For your representation in Washington, you can visit a site like WhoIsMyRepresentative.com, submit your zip code, and it’ll tell you your Congressman and your Senators.  In your state legislature, you can search Google for your state’s General Assembly and find your representatives through the General Assembly web site.

Contact Your Representatives Regularly.
There’s not much reason in knowing who your representatives are if you aren’t going to contact them.  When I first started doing this, I was pretty uncomfortable doing it, but it’s actually pretty easy.  You call the office, a staff member answers the phone, you identify yourself as a constituent, and then tell them what you think about a certain piece of legislation.  They thank you for calling, and that’s all there is to it.

Additionally, your representatives likely have an email newsletter that gets sent regularly.  You can use their newsletters as a way to keep current with what they are doing.

Learn the Legislative Process.
Watch C-SPAN.  Yes, I know that it’s painful to watch sometimes, but if you’re going to pay attention to the political world, you’ve got to understand how it all works.  If you can’t figure something out, find somebody with a political blog and send them an email asking if they can explain it.  Chances are really good that you’ll get a detailed explanation (with no public embarrassment), because bloggers love input from readers.