This web site believes the Internet, e-mail, blogs, Twitter, cell phone messages, etc., can be used to enhance rather than subvert democracy by allowing people to communicate with their elected officials from established web sites and online brands. Of course, that has to be done honestly. Everyone in the United States is entitled to send messages on national issues to the federal government; little kids send theirs to the president; Washingtonians send them to the appropriate federal agency, and sometimes the rest of us may need to ask our Congressman which agency that might be. Messages on issues pending in the U.S. Congress go to the U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators in your state; in this web site's case that would be Virginia. Messages on state issues go to the appropriate state officials, and messages on city and county issues go to the appropriate city and county officials. It's fraudulent to use the Internet to try to influence state, city, or county officials--including Congressmen--other than your own. We can use the Internet to cheer and jeer and let elected officials know when people outside their own constituency are watching them; we should never leave anyone in any doubt where we're from and who our own representatives are.
So, having received this misdirected poll from Rep. Love, I feel prompted to share it with all our U.S. readers. You can use Disqus (if you've not created a free Disqus account yet, please do; yes, it asks for an e-mail address, but that's all; all Disqus purports to do is track the comments posted under each user's screen name) to participate in a discussion at this web site, or share your responses and discuss the matter on Twitter or at your own web sites. Let people know which state you're in, who your Members of Congress are, and how well you think they're representing you.
If you visit your Congressmembers' web sites, you'll notice that several of them ask for superfluous information, like phone numbers...that's to help their staff identify and discard responses from outside their constituency. (If you want to weigh in on a pending issue in Congress with people other than your own representatives, the way to do that legally is to prod e-friends from other congressional districts to e-mail their officials. Works for people outside the U.S., too--like Avaaz--and there's nothing wrong with it as long as you're honest about where you're from and what you're trying to accomplish.)
That said...for the record, I think a real medical care solution that gets the insurance gambling scheme out of the picture, and ensures payment of actual costs only after people have tried and failed to pay their own medical expenses, is still very important. Obamacare is going down as one of the epic fails of U.S. history, which is as it should be. Massive numbers of U.S. citizens are still passing from middle age to old age; the federal budget is still overspending; the national debt is still increasing. We need to replace Obamacare with something more efficient, not less so. Fast. (And yes, this actually fits under "Support our Veterans," and also "Balancing the Budget," as well as "Real Healthcare Solutions.")
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Let me know what issue you believe should be Congress’ #1 priority:
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Thank you,
Mia Love
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