At Home He's a Tourist: Five Minutes of Your Time

Five Minutes of Your Time

By Jason Pancake

In school almost every student learns something about the American Revolutionary War and has probably heard the phrase “no taxation without representation.” For better or worse, thanks to the efforts of the colonists, we have a system of government where each area is represented by an elected representative. These representatives are your voice and are supposed to stand up for you! Does this always happen? No, but it is no excuse not to know who represents you. Your tax dollars go towards government and the your elected representatives determine how the money is spent and how laws affect your life. It’s sad when people care so deeply about who they think should be an american idol or a ballroom dancing minor celebrity, yet they pay thousands of dollars a year in taxes and don’t even know who runs their daily lives and is in charge of spending these tax dollars.

Each American has representatives in the Senate, Congress, and their state and local governments. Generally, people know who their President, Vice President, Governor, and maybe Senators are, but once you go beyond those people, the knowledge goes way down. There are all kinds of polls and surveys showing how pathetic the general public’s knowledge is of their representatives. I strongly believe that students should be able to name or at least find the name of their major representatives in order to graduate from high school. The decisions that these representatives make shape almost every aspect of the country and where you live.

There are racist, homophobic nutcases out there that want to carry concealed weapons, believe that being gay is morally wrong, and who don’t believe evolution should be taught in school, yet these people aren’t marginalized and laughed off because they tend to know who their representatives are and how to contact them.

Believe it or not, if you write a letter to your elected representative, you will get a response from his or her office. Your representative might not do much about the cause you want to support, but at least they know you are out there.

What you can do:

If you already know who all your representatives are, that is awesome. If not, you can easily find out. In the time it takes you to check your email or to read through your Myspace bulletins, you can find out who controls many aspects of the country and your daily life.

Here are the essentials:

1. Your Representative in Congress: Go to the House of Representatives website at www.house.gov and enter your zip code to find your representative. You need zip +4 to do a search. You can find your zip+4 at the USPS.com website.

The House.gov website is cool because you can also look up voting records and bills that are being heard.

2. Your State Representatives: In most states such as California, you have a State Senate and Assembly. These are the people that make state laws and approve the budget. Just like the national level where you have the President, Congress, and Senate, on a state level, things have to be worked out between the Senate, Assembly, and Governor. This website VoteSmart.org has a lot of resources and information on how to find your state representatives. You can also do a Google search for your state’s legislature. (For example, search for “California legislature”) The Official California Legislative Information website also has all kinds of good information about California laws and your representatives.

3. Your local city/county representatives: Finally, it is good to know what’s happening in your own neighborhood and city. They are the ones that decide whether or not a 300-unit apartment building with no additional parking is going to be built on your street. You can look up your local city and county’s webpage to find out who your representatives are.

Once you figure out your local representatives, it doesn’t hurt to do some research and see what’s happening in the rest of the country and feel fortunate that hopefully your representative is better than some of those hacks. Things don’t change unless enough people make it happen, but at least people should know who they have to convince.