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title: Why We Are Doing This
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There are a few obvious realities in the US. Many people think politics is boring. Many people are annoyed by politics when it seems like nothing gets done. Finally, people are too busy. Too busy with work and family and everything else. Put these together and it's not too surprising that our voter turnout levels are only around 60% for a presidential election and an embarrassing 40% for a midterm election. I'm sure the state and local only elections have a much lower turnout in most of the US. There are several other reasons for low voter turnout, but that's a topic for another day.

Many of us elect our government representatives at the local, state and federal levels and we just expect they will make decisions for us that we will agree with. Or we think there's nothing we can do until the next election. But our officials don't usually make these decisions completely on their own. They usually look at whatever input they have. They should be open to our input also. They do _represent_ us, by the way. I could not find any real statistics for this, but I'm guessing the number of people who actually contact their representatives in between elections is much lower than voter turnout.

But we should care about the decisions made by our representatives. These often have an effect on our daily lives. They could slow down your commute to work, change the amount of money in your paycheck, or determine whether you or a relative needs to go fight overseas in a war.

You should be able to voice your opinions on these decisions. Many people do this in letters, emails, website forms, phone calls, or maybe even in faxes. And that is probably the most effective thing to do. But the majority of us don't. Many of us aren't even aware of the issues out there or even who their representatives are, let alone how to contact them.

This isn't anyone's fault. Life is just too complicated. We are too busy getting dinner on the table and making sure our kids' homework is done to worry about it. That doesn't make these issues any less important. 

With so few of us speaking up individually, all too often, the loudest voices our representatives hear at all levels of government are those with the most money, those from large corporations. 

You should have a fast and easy way to participate in government and voice your opinions. Your representatives at all levels **should** want to hear your opinions over those of corporations. There should be an easy way to find out how they have voted. When you go to the polls, you shouldn't have to vote for the biggest name you've heard, or just trust your favorite TV network, or just want to vote everyone out. 

This is the mission of Issue Loop. To keep you in the loop of participation with government on the issues that matter to you. To raise your voices over those of corporations and to help you make more informed decisions at the polls.



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