What is my job as a citizen?

I’m struggling.

I want to toss some thoughts out because I’m not sure what a citizen’s role really is in the US anymore. I’m curious what people here think.

Until recently, I thought that my primary role in the running of our country was to communicate and understand what my elected officials were doing. Those who communicated effectively with me and who made decisions I either agreed with (or at least understood the logic behind) were to be rewarded with my vote. Those who were less effective in those tasks I’d vote to replace. That’s what I understood in my civics class back at Oxon Hill High School.

Maybe high school civics from the 70’s doesn’t really apply anymore.

A few years back, I resolved never to speak again on two things – faith and politics. It seemed to me that there was no longer the convention that folks could talk about these things, disagree, and move on as if they’d spoken about nothing of more consequence than the weather.

All the same, I slip up on that resolution sometimes.

What's the point? We're not changing each others minds

It has come to the point that when people discuss those topics, the goal is very often to bring the other person to the opposite side, or berate them as a fool, or worse.

Conservative Protests: Planned Disruptions

The fairly well organized conservative disruptions of Lawmaker speeches at a number of locations across the country has been widely covered by the mainstream media like NPR: 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111605707

One of the principal activitists put out a “best practices” memo on how to most effectively disrupt lawmaker’s presentations.  As an example, the protestors who will shout out their complaints are told to spread out as much as possible, so that it will seem to the politician that the majority of the crowd supports the protestors.

The document linked below is the protest organizer’s memo.  This memo spread rapidly accross the internet:

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/townhallactionmemo.pdf

The man who wrote this memo claims that he is not a Republican, but is instead a libertarian.  Is it just me, but are those who are inclined to the libertarian bent especially nutty, or am I being unfair?

How do people consider it a victory when they help deny healthcare to others?  That question has always puzzled me.

Economic news is improving

Yes, the economic news shows signs of improvement, but we’re not out of the woods.  There are economists who are grading the stimulus and seeing signs it did boost the economy even tho a small portion of it has been spent.  There’s a good explanation at NPR of why the unemployment rate fell for the first time in fifteen months.  The news isn’t all bad anymore, and a depression was avoided, but we’re still in the deepest recession since WWII.

fnord

Friday, 08/07/09, Public Square

No country can expect to reach its full potential by leaving half its citizens behind.

No state shall…

deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION

Although women have come a long way, we don’t yet have equal rights for all citizens in America.  There is work to be done.

fnord