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Select the six politicians or community leaders you think are most important to your life and interests, then tape their names, addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses to your refrigerator. Your picks can include anyone from the President of the United States to your state's agriculture secretary to the superintendent of your local school district; it's up to you.
Why six? Simply because it brings government down to a manageable size. Trying to track every politician and civic leader clamoring for your attention is next to impossible. But six is a large enough number to encompass local, state, and federal governments and include leaders important to your personal interests.Made your choices? Follow them. Read about them, visit their websites, get their newsletters, attend their meetings or speeches (or watch them on television), and track their voting records and success rates. What do they do well? What are they missing? Most important, are they doing a good job of representing you and your needs?
With your Big Six enshrined on the fridge, you'll be reminded of your role as the boss of some of these representatives. You'll find it easier to write letters or e-mails to let them know your opinions on the issues as well as your assessment of their performance. You may be surprised at how the conversation starts flowing in both directions. And when that happens, you may just find that your convictions are bolstered -- or challenged -- by learning more about the other side of the issues. This will make you a more thoughtful critic, or admirer, of their work.
Most of all, you may find a renewed appreciation of the way the system works and, even better, the impact you can have on our country's civil servants.
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