Getting Political Again

I have to admit, I burned out a little. After the election of President Obama (hooray!), and then the Prop. 8 debacle (boo!!!) I just didn't want to think about it for a while. I was fairly active on the Obama campaign, making several small donations, staying up to date on the day to day news, posting an occasional blog entry or twitter post that might boost support, etc... But I've been reluctant to throw the same sort of support to the post-election Obama machine. I'm getting the emails, but they've been going largely unread.
But, I'm starting to come out of my post-election stupor and I'm hoping you will too (if you are similarly affected). I think one of the reasons I'm feeling the need to re-engage is not just the particulars of the battle over the various economic stimulus plans (like what even are they?) but in something more fundamental. Something that the Obama campaign addressed, namely the nature of our political culture.
I think many of us get sick to our stomachs when we think about the political culture of this country over the past twenty years. What the Obama campaign tried to do was to move us out of the usual mud-slinging, party-centric bunker mentality of us vs. them. I think to some extent, (though not perfectly) he succeeded. Doing the same thing in Washington will prove much harder I imagine, but my hope is that we can move beyond this hyper-polarized ideological culture toward one that is both more practical and more civil.
It's apparent to me that politicians are not going to do it on their own (at least not the ones that have been well-served by employing these culture war tactics to get elected... which is a huge majority of them). What it's going to take is a highly informed and highly engaged group of citizens to build this new political culture. We are called upon at this moment, with a small window opened up by the election of President Obama, to demand that our representatives work together to make sensible policy, to engage each other respectfully, and to disagree with civility.
We also need to turn our backs on the crap opinion political spinfotainment--even the stuff that's on "our side." The pundits cannot be a substitute for our voice.
I urge you to bookmark the email contact forms of your Senators and Congressmen, both federal and state. Write them a short note to let them know that you expect more from them than the usual party-line ideological nonsense. Then keep using those bookmarks. Stay informed and write them often.
Let's build a political culture that will serve us well through the necessary governmental reforms of the next twenty years.