What can we do?

A great column from the Austin Chronicle (by way of Daily Kos). It addresses the question of what and how much we should all be doing if we're unhappy about the current political situation. Michael Ventura challenges readers to put in two hours a day on working for change. He's not providing any specific answers on what you should be doing, but point out that conviction without action isn't going to accomplish much. Here's a link:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-03-18/cols_ventura.html

Is two hours a day reasonable? I can't answer that for you. But ask yourself this - are you complaining more than you're working for change? If so, maybe shifting some time from complaining to working is in order. That's what I'm asking myself anyway. I give myself partial credit for blogging and contributing money. Sometime I write LTEs (that's Letters To the Editor). I don't think any of these is quite enough though.

I've referred to this before, but it's worth mentioning again. Here's Penn (of Penn and Teller) explaining why writing letters is like getting an extra vote:

http://pennandteller.com/sincity/penn-n-teller/pcc/presiden.html

Of course, you have to write them to people who will listen.