intelligentvote

Just saw this on the news. For those of us who are outraged at our congress for sitting by while this administration takes this country down a dangerous path, there is a small hope of making yourself heard - and actually having an effect.

I haven't had time to find sites like this, but it's clear that more of this sort of grassroots networking is imperative. I will post a link and just paste what the site's front page states.

If you planning on voting in the November 2006 elections, then this is an excellent site. Even if you don't you can see the possibilities and power the Internet provides to the citizens of this country. Let's take it back.

From the site:

"WELCOME

Our most powerful means to guarantee a bright future for this country is an INTELLIGENT VOTE.

This website will, in just 10 minutes, enable you to cast an INTELLIGENT VOTE regarding your current Senators and Representative in the upcoming 2006 national election in November. The system will build your political profile by having you read summaries of the most important issues voted on in the U.S. Congress in the past six years, and then allowing you to cast your vote. It then compares your political profile to the voting record of your Representative and Senators and provides a summary similar to that below:

Your Senator, Mr. Brown, voted in-line with you 20% of the time

Your Senator, Mr. Dough, voted in-line with you 50% of the time

Your Representative, Mrs. Smith, voted in-line with you 80% of the time.

From this, you will be able to cast an INTELLIGENT VOTE.

In addition to helping you determine if you should re-elect your Congressman; this site can be used by people like yourself to provide our Senators and Representatives information on how we think they SHOULD vote on Upcoming Critical Votes – BEFORE THEY VOTE.

If this site becomes popular, millions of Americans will be able to influence the direction of this country many times per year and change the way politics are done in Washington …for the better!

To begin, select the line from the Main Menu (to the left) – Should I Re-elect my Congressman"

SOURCE

[edit on 21-10-2006 by OnTheDeck]

(url removed from thread title)

[edit on 10-23-2006 by worldwatcher]

This is a good Idea with monstrously bad potential.

There is a lot of confusion right now with where politicians stand. People are too preoccupied with Dem. vs. Rep. or Con. vs. Lib. and don't pay enough attention to the actual issues. This could be one way of bypassing the titles to find a politician who is in line with your beliefs. However, people have a tendency to become dependant on things like this, and if a large enough number of people depended on this site to tell them who to vote for, then how long do you think it would take for the site to become corrupt? I doubt even I could resist using this as a tool to drive people away from the likes of Schummer or Mrs. CLINTon. Too much temptation and too easy to manipulate large numbers of people.

Good find, interesting stuff.

You're right. It's important to weigh on the side of caution and to use common sense with regard to gauging the veracity of information. In this case, making sure that these individuals did indeed vote this way, and that the issues are presented accurately. It is likely that this information is accurate, and if it weren't, then any one of the individuals represented on this site can bring action against the site owner. It seems unlikely to me.

If you're suggesting that the information on the site can be manipulated by any of these individuals, however, your concern is well placed. Especially, with the recent revelations of even Google's censorship of information, in particular, this is a valid concern. All information can be cross-referenced, and that responsibility falls upon the individual checking the site. With the right approach, however, these sites can be utilized to good effect. I would assume any politico attempting to alter the information on this site would have adversaries quickly bringing attention to false, or inaccurate information. All of this would come to light at some point, so it can't be manipulated too long, or at too detrimental a cost.

This site is one tool among many that can bridge the gap for people that feel disconnected with our political system. At the very least this website and others like it can introduce people to their representatives. This is a simple step that so many people haven't taken, and for that alone this site is worth the space its using. People will know who to contact, or where to start if they want to voice concern, or get more information from their representatives.

My general concern is not so much for these grass roots sites, but for our government run institutions, and large corporations. If a smaller site runs people astray that's one thing, but we're already aware of the corruption with larger, public institutions, and the damage wrought from those sectors far outweighs the damage that can be done by a website trying to introduce people to their public servants...