The Best Thing About Our Election Day

Some would say that the best thing about Election Day is that we don't have to watch any more lying television campaign ads or receive more political junk mail that goes straight into the recycle basket. But it's this day that signifies the freedom that's made this country so great. It's also the day that only interests some Americans every 4 years when they come out in droves to elect a president. Unfortunately, they tend to stay at home during the other 3 years and that apathy is what's behind the crisis we're going through now.

Back in 1992 the Clinton campaign initiated the slogan, "It's the economy, stupid." Listening to all the pundits and debates that followed and reading all the letters to the editors of many newspapers, I realized that many voters had no idea who was responsible for fixing the economic problems we were having. I've always felt that we pick the candidate who can best protect this nation as commander-in-chief. Voters were looking for an economic savior and they assumed it was Bill Clinton, but they were wrong. Things didn't improve until Congress changed hands in the 1994 election and the Contract with America kicked in the next year.

I admit that history was not my favorite subject, but I did manage to learn the rudimentary details of how our government worked. There was even a cartoon shown on a television program, "School House Rock," which showed "How A Bill Becomes A Law" (www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ).

Yet right now the average voter doesn't know who represents him in Congress and it's Congress that's mucking up this country right now. Thank goodness the framers of the Constitution gave us the ability to change the House of Representatives every 2 years and the Senate every 6.

I heard my senator, Chuck Schumer, say, "And let me say this, to all of the chattering class that so much focuses on those little tiny, yes, porky amendments, the American people really don't care." The arrogance of that statement so infuriated me that I felt I had to get more involved in the political arena.

The beauty of the Constitution is that it allows us to run the government, not the other way around. Our responsibility is to learn as much as we can about whom we're putting in office to represent us. That information is harder to get if one just relies on the mainstream media, which is currently in the tank for one party. The Internet is a great source for that information as long as we avoid strictly partisan domains.

Votesmart.org will provide the necessary records on our representatives. By entering my zip code, I learned all the data I needed about my representatives in Congress and that both my senators and congressman are up for reelection next year.

I launched a site, ChangeNYin2010.com, which will provide New Yorkers with information they would not find in the local papers. Unlike radical leftwing sites, I don't have a George Soros billionaire to fund this project, so it will take time to reach peak access, but at least I'm doing something instead of just whining about the sad state of the nation.

What the White House and the congressional leaders are failing to understand is that millions of Americans, like me, are turning into activists. The Tea Party Express is on tour and these are your average nonpartisan Americans who are fed up with the ever-expanding government taking over our lives. Hop on board if one comes to your area to let Congress know you're still in charge.

When I told a friend that I was looking to change New York, he laughed at the idea because he said, "New York is a Democrat town and always will be." I explained that I was looking for good candidates in any party but that many of the entrenched politicians who have done nothing for us keep getting reelected because they have no competition.

Next year, Senators Schumer and Gillibrand; Gov. Paterson; Reps. Charles Rangel and Jerrold Nadler, and State Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver are all up and expect to be reelected by a comfortable margin. If they are, we have no right to complain if we haven't supported their opponents in the primaries and general election.

The anthem for the tea parties is "Twenty Ten," sung by Lloyd Marcus, and the theme is "Take Back America." In 2010, the following congressional leaders are up for reelection:

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. (who got a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide); Reps. Barney Frank and Maxine Waters (who both deny responsibility for the housing crisis by refusing to rein in Fannie Mae. Their guilt is all over YouTube); Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. (who didn't like being called "M'am" by an Army brigadier general. She was also accused by the CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, Harry Alford, an African American, of being "racial" for citing an NAACP source that agreed with her position on cap-and-trade to counteract his).

Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn.; Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif.; Sen. Arlen Specter (turncoat), and so many others are vulnerable next year as well.

These are the leaders in office, but we have the power to remove them. Why should you care just as much about elections other than the one for president? It's the mayor and City Council that raise your property taxes, water bills, city fines, and license fees. It's your governor and State Assembly and senators that raise your state income taxes and determine the sales tax rates. Judges can promote social engineering.

Congress is right now trying to pass a health bill that won't take effect for years but will drain your wallet now. Why is this the priority? People aren't dying in the streets like they are in England and Cuba. America, however, is hurting badly economically. Why didn't it pass a stimulus package that put money directly into our pockets instead of bailing out the miscreants who caused the crisis? This Congress has the power to tax you to death. It can also sell our country down the drain by ratifying a global treaty being crafted in Copenhagen next month that will effectively shut down our economy, all in the name of a huge climate scam.

If you don't pay attention to each and every Election Day from now on, sorry, but you're part of the problem.

Alicia Colon lives in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com.