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How sweet it is! To (finally) not be confined to learning about presidential candidates based solely on their campaign ads and the established media, which often tends to focus more on polls and sound bites than the issues that really concern us. Enter the age of interactive internet and all that has changed. Tonight, for the first time ever, seven democratic candidates for president will be answering questions in a “virtual town hall” that will be streamed live over the internet beginning at 7 p.m. Pacific Time. The questions for tonight’s forum will focus on the Iraq War, but this is only the first of three presidential-candidate forums to be developed and hosted by the activist group MoveOn.org. Based on membership input, the other two forums will focus on healthcare and energy. 

Given the technology of today’s world, the concept of citizen involvement has changed dramatically and it couldn’t have happened at a better time; it is absolutely critical to the success of a democracy that citizens are informed, engaged, and voting. Yet recent trends in voter turnout, especially in local elections, have shown we are desperately in need of a shakeup to get people re-connected to the political process. If my memory is correct, last week’s local election in Chelmsford had about an 18% turnout of eligible voters participating (pathetic and terrifying). In Lowell, I think it’s around 25% of eligible voters have elected our leaders in the recent past.

The use of interactive technology not only allows citizens more direct access to candidates and their views, but it allows us to shape the focus of the discussion, raise the level of discourse, and hopefully put the established media on notice that we require fuller, more meaningful candidate coverage from them or we will turn to other sources. So join in the process tonight, either by participating in one of over a 1,000 small-group gatherings to listen to the forum with others–Locations within a 30-mile radius of my home included Littleton, N. Reading, Hollis, Cambridge, and Boston–or simply check in from your own home. MoveOn will conduct polls afterwards so voters can share their thoughts on the candidates.

I hadn’t been following this one that closely and was mostly aware of the counter-argument that said this initiative would drive businesses out of the state. Whoa, don’t do it! That was my initial reaction, since a commercial tax base and jobs are vital to our local economies. However, Senator Steve Panagiotakos brought this up at the Stand for Children informational meeting last month and gave two examples that seem like accounting chicanery that shouldn’t be allowed in any state:  (1) Corporations  place real estate holdings into a subsidiary entity and then sell the entity rather than the real estate itself to avoid the real estate transfer tax,  and (2) Corporations get to avoid taxes by being classified as partnerships in one state and corporations in another state. There are more loopholes listed on http://devalpatrick.com/issue.php?issue_id=7593861.  I say close ‘em!