Hold Congress Accountable: Voting Record, Upcoming Legislative Votes

OpenCongress.org
It is easy to hold politicians accountable, by voicing your opinions in emails to your elected officials. The above website is Opencongress.org: a good resource for monitoring what your state reps & senators are doing in D.C.

There's a section titled MoneyTrail, linking donors to candidates, amount donated, & related legislation with voting results of the representative in question... the intent being to make it easy to see if your elected official(s) are beholden to outside influence. There's a comprehensive, sortable list of bills & their status: introduced, passed, failed, etc & the voting records of each congressman.

What I felt most compelled to share here on ATS, where opinions are like elected officials (everybody's got one) is the Contact your Congressman section, where you compose a message & send it to their email, within the website, with option of sharing the message on your preferred social media site. For some, that's the way to connect and get people to care about an issue that really matters. While I hardly engage in the big social media site, when I do it's often to share something serious, like info on the SOPA bill awhile back. Many people here complain in posts about "sheeple", how they won't open their eyes or do anything about their rights being trampled... Well, it's really easy to write and send an email! If we dont actively tell our elected representatives how to represent us, why be surprised if they dont vote your way.
This is a way to participate in the process, & earn the right to be upset or disgusted by politics. It's easy to be apathetic yet opinionated in "How they should vote" when discussing legislative topics on a site such as this. But contacting your elected officials makes the system more real, and could be the key to us, the governed, taking back our pride & ownership of the American process of government.
The site says it's "Free, Opensource, & Not-for-Profit"

Originally posted by kkrattiger

But contacting your elected officials makes the system more real, and could be the key to us, the governed, taking back our pride & ownership of the American process of government.
The site says it's "Free, Opensource, & Not-for-Profit"

edit on 25-7-2013 by kkrattiger because: Clarity

After a few years of collecting prefab form letter responses and getting the "your representative is glad to hear from you" responses from office calls the apathy will return. Dont worry.

Nothing highlights just how little they care like wasting time participating.

Why participate or complain to a rigged system, that is working perfectly for them? Our elected officials are not dumb and they know exactly what the voters want and what is beneficial for the voters.However, their pay checks comes from special interest groups and lobbyist who have conflicting views on what is the right thing to do.

The people and our elected officials have proven time and time again how the system works.

1. People are to busy to get involved in politics
2. People pick a side and stick to that side and support that side no matter what.
3. People decide which news station tells them what they want to hear.
4. People decide their candidates based on who their news station tells them is the best choice.
5. People blame the other side for everything and never hold their party accountable.

In essence , our gov't depends on special interest groups and lobbyist. Therefore, our elected officials pitch their policies warped by the special interest groups and the media to the public. The special interest groups and lobbyist also control what the population thinks via the Main Stream Media. The people are to busy and to brain washed to see the truth.

its sadly a lost cause and we have lost the majority of the population who has become good little consumers.

The only way we can change is changing the system itself and revamping how the special interest groups and the lobbying industry works with our elected officials.

reply to post by kkrattiger


While sending an e-mail is not the worst idea when you want to let your elected officials know what you think.
A more effective method would be to send them a message by fax.
This will be printed out by their fax machine automatically and a not only do they have a hard copy of you message; they also have to reload paper into the machine when it runs out.
If you send either one, or one thousand, e-mails they can be deleted with the push of the mouse button and never be opened or read.
Actually, now that I think of it, if a few people had a "good mesage" they wished to send to their elected officials about some pressing issue; a, or a few thousand, fax messages might stand a better chance of getting some attention. After all, all you need do after composing the message is to push your mouse button as many times as you feel the need necessary to get your point across.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/78e027620a6d.png[/atsimg]

I already have a plan for surviving an apocalypse

But being able to predict our
government is much tougher.

Actually a way to track the bills
that are being pushed through is
exactly what I was looking for online.

Thanks for the link! Now I catch that second
Monsanto bill they try to sneak through. You know
the one that doesn't get a bunch of publicity that they
push about a week after a previous attempt goes down in flames.


Mike


opencongres.org / bill / all

Here's one
that has already
peaked my interest.


Mike

H.J.Res.13 - Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States waiving the application of the first article of amendment to the political speech of corporations and other business organizations with respect to the disbursement of funds in connection with public elections.

opencongres.org /bill/ 113-hj13

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Sounds like they're trying to say "sorry, you're too big, the BOR doesnt apply to you."

I read the Constitution yesterday on my lunch break for the I dont know how manyeth time.

As I was working though the amendments it struck me how the early ones were broad and focused on extending liberty then they gradually got wordy, strangely specific and focused on restrictions of liberty. The majority of them are all about elections. As if they were more concerned with propping up the dynasty system than the liberty of the people. The alcohol nonsense is a blemish of grand stupidity that will never go away.

Like if after Robert Jordon died they got Michael Bay to finish the Wheel of Time. Set up this great freeing system then pile in a bunch of safeties for the new oligarchs.

I know it is all too easy to fall into an apathetic frame of mind, but the point about contacting your representative detailing both your disappoint and anger at them voting against the amendment, expresses the right to lawful protestation, and is a necessary registered gesture of opposition to how your representative and government function. The issue is not whether they listen and act on your umbrage, but that you actually respond, it is so important that you do.

Flood the lawful avenues of protest with protest, but above all, do not remain inert and silent, no matter how futile you perceive things to be, because they take that as acceptance.

I am not American, but I suspect that if Americans were able to achieve the dismantling of the surveillance programs in America, it would also lead to the dismantling of surveillance programs world-wide. Other western governments are simply colluding with the American government's wishes.

I'm no terrorist, not by any stretch of the imagination. I am just a believer in individual freedom, liberty, and privacy. I believe in my compatriots, because as a whole they are my country, my defence and my security, and I am theirs'. Inert or active, we're in this together, and I should think it is better to be actively engaged against the wrongs occurring to compatriots than to be inert and inured to them.

reply to post by teamcommander


I like the idea of sending faxes, not emails. And I love the thought of multiple faxes coming thru on a topic. Even 10 faxes in an hour might make a statement to a rep with a smaller constituency, such as in my state of NM.

Thanks for the post. The ol fax machine, I suppose it'll need some dusting off!

reply to post by elysiumfire


"...the point about contacting your representative detailing both your disappoint and anger at them voting against the amendment, expresses the right to lawful protestation, and is a necessary registered gesture of opposition to how your representative and government function. The issue is not whether they listen and act on your umbrage, but that you actually respond, it is so important that you do.

Flood the lawful avenues of protest with protest, but above all, do not remain inert and silent, no matter how futile you perceive things to be, because they take that as acceptance."

Well-said. Your whole post eloquently captured the gist of my position on participating in the process. I'm relieved someone thinks it is worthwhile to do something even just symbolically. everyone complains on ATS, how is sending an email or fax not at least one rung above aimless online grumbling, in initiating some sort of change in the tide? Thank you for taking the time to post.

reply to post by mikegrouchy


Thanks for looking at the link!

Yesterday I was out taking photos for work. I'd gone about 40 mi into the Texas panhandle when a Monsanto billboard caught my eye. I didnt take a pic because I forgot on the return trip. It was a woman with a phrase like "My name is Cindy, and I grow SAFE food" ... "Monsanto".
It appears they feel a need to do campaigns in the rural, seed-buying areas. Which means there must be some resistance to them there.

Originally posted by kkrattiger
reply to post by teamcommander

 

I like the idea of sending faxes, not emails. And I love the thought of multiple faxes coming thru on a topic. Even 10 faxes in an hour might make a statement to a rep with a smaller constituency, such as in my state of NM.

Thanks for the post. The ol fax machine, I suppose it'll need some dusting off!

The only thing I can think of which would be better than a single person faxing their grievances to their own representatives, is a massive coordinated campaign by several thousand, or maybe even a few million, citizens flooding Washington DC with a singular message.

Oh ! One thing could be better.

As "they" decided to vote to keep up funding for the NSA programs; how could "WE" come up with a "voters hit list" of those Senators and Representatives who ARE NOT voting the way the majority of "we the people" would like .
This would be a list of ALL members of both parties and both houses whom we want defeated in the election for their office.

O K ! ATS members, How about it.

I realize I should have made a thread of this, but it is done now.

reply to post by teamcommander


Searching for a list of Who Voted For & Against changing the reach of the NSA
led me to www.opencongress.org.
The site could be what some people need in order to become more proactive (inc. simple, single emailed remarks, or if organized somehow, a coordinated response as you suggested).

That's why I made this thread!