Voting and Civic Responsibilties

A polymer clay artist posted on her blog about making a resolution to vote in the new year.

I have one comment to go with this one. Write your congressmen! They are in office for a time and they need to hear your voice. Don't forget your local politicians, either. They need to know that we are watching their every move. If on a state level, write every single one of the representatives and senators about an issue. I have found that my representative may not be interested in an issue, but one from another district may be.

Keep an eye on the bills that are coming up. You will never believe what they are wasting their/our time/money on. You will also not believe the bills they are passing. I have found that some items are added to other bills and the ordinary citizen never knew that there was such a law to begin with. Case in point--When I wrote my senators and representatives on the state level about a bill that allowed county sheriffs to walk into any pharmacy and ask to see all pharmaceutical without a search warrant, I had no idea that state police officers and state bureau of investigation could already view our North Carolina pharmaceutical records without a search warrant. But then neither did almost every one of the state senators and representatives to whom I wrote. After writing to the newspaper and every politician, the bill died probably because they did not want the original bill to be found in violation of HIPPA and jerk the ability of the state police offices and SBI to get pharmaceutical information without a search warrant.

In just one year, I have uncovered at least seven bills that are in direct violation of our civil rights---and I am not a lawyer, politician or anyone with more than an ordinary interest in politics. In fact, I would much prefer to just do my artwork than to be a watchdog. With our busy lives, we are fast turning over our freedoms to those who have nothing better to do than to make laws and micro-manage our lives.

May 2008 be the new year for the Responsible Citizen!

polymerclay