The Power of Blog

First, I want to say, "Thanks for the comments, ladies. I say ladies because I seem to have zero male readership. And don't tell me it's my subject matter. With the exception of the baby blog and the lovey dovey "How I met Ella" post, my articles have a distinct male flavor. So step up fellas and again thanks, ladies. (Especially Ellie, your feedback is appreciated)

I recently joined a team blog, Apathy as Activism with a great couple of guys Rhythmmission and The Stereotype (check their blogs out in the links section. As the title implies this blog skews to the political, although no topic is off-limits I suppose. The tone is a little more serious over there but seeing as we've got the full political spectrum (Rhythm - liberal, Stereotype - moderate, Me - Conservative) covered, it should make for interesting reading. We just got up and running but check it out, tell your friends and by all means comment!

This whole project (and the many responses to the baby blog) got me thinking. Our generation (and the one after us) has always been connected. When we were teenagers, beepers were the craze, cellphones had exploded by the time we were in college. We watched email take over from snail mail as the preferred correspondence. We stole songs with Napster, pushed our parents and employers (and spouses) to let us have broadband, and gave birth to the blog. Even though the mainstream media (and me at times) have declared us apathetic, we are actually quite passionate. We are also (and here's the important part) very impatient. The idea of the 6 o'clock news is ludicrous to us. We want to know what happened, now. This is truly an amazing discovery. It makes sense that we don't go to the polls but we text message a million times to pick our favorite American Idol. It's not that we don't care who our President (or Governor, or Congressman) is. We just lose interest when we can't immediately respond.

The good news is, Politicians are starting to get it. Howard Dean was one shoutfest away from winning the Democratic nomination because he (or more realistically, someone on his staff) knew how to make the internet savvy youth feel involved and important. For the first time in a major campaign internet presence didn't just mean a list of phone numbers but campaign stop calendars, merchandise stores, interview transcripts and (gasp) blogs from the candidate. From now on hiring a webmaster will be as much a part of campaigning as extolling the benefits of ethanol during the Iowa Caucuses. From now on we (the connected youth) have the ability to affect campaigns from the beginning (not just at the end with whether or not we show up for 'Vote or Die' rallies). Are you tired of your political party being taken away from you? Well then change it. Contact the man or woman you think is right for the office and get involved. The beauty of this is you can do all that from the comfort of your home. Our parents have a big generation, and for the next thirty years or so they are going to have a lot to say about the direction of our country. We however, have tools they don't. Use them.