If you have been hesitant to email your elected state officials, here is a chance to jump in and get your feet wet. And remember that once you contact them by email, their email addresses are in your email list and contacting them again will be much easier. You might want to gather together some friends [more...]
On January 13 I decided to reroute my ticket on a previously planned trip to New Orleans and the East Coast so that I could participate in the Women's March on Washington on January 21. It was almost a spur of the moment thing - but on reflection I realized that over the past several [more...]
The recent election has raised the issue of transparency in government to a high priority. What is government transparency – and why does it matter? Transparency measures the amount of openness, accountability, and integrity of a government entity. Without transparency, corruption can easily, and usually will, flourish. “Governments exist to serve the people. Information on [more...]
This post was contributed by LWVJ members, Pat Watt Public participation is the glue that holds democracy together. Democracy is not just about voting - getting registered, learning about what's on the ballot, and then turning out to cast your ballot. It's about paying attention to policy matters, issues decided by those we elected, issues [more...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member LaRae Jones. Various scholars and social scientists remind us that our middle class is eroding, along with our roads, our bridges, harbors, and – most alarmingly – schools. Some see the solution in renewed isolationism that reduces the huge budget drain of foreign wars and arms races. The more [more...]
Three ideas are fundamental to the workings of a democracy: The open and unrestricted access to a secret ballot by all adults. A ballot secured by competent administration from accidental or purposeful disclosure of a voter’s ballot choices. The use of a paper balloting system that assures the auditing and accurate hand counting of voting [more...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Ann Fuller. Let’s make democracy work by improving civics education in our schools and community. Our future well-being depends on people sensibly cooperating for effective action and engaging in open debate. Helping students learn to think critically, monitoring school programs, and including young people in practical democracy are important [more...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member Judy Andree. Freedom, patriotism, the Bill of Rights, the Founding Fathers — all rallying cries when talking about politics in the USA. But we don’t hear much talk about our responsibilities as citizens in a free society. Every freedom we enjoy comes with citizen responsibilities. Here are three points [more...]
This post is contributed by LWVJ member carolyn Brown. When I was a kid in early years of learning the saga of U.S. history, I had trouble understanding the meaning, relationship and difference between the words ”suffrage” and “suffering.” They sounded alike to me. Now, these several years later, I find myself similarly troubled to understand [more...]
