"Dear Activist"

I still get e-mails addressed to "Dear Activist." Despite the November 4 election results that catapulted our guy into the presidency, progressive activists have not stopped acting. Actions to take, as suggested by the mailings, often center around donating money, but not entirely. I have remained on David Plouffe's mailing list from my membership at (Barack Obama's campaign website). Plouffe wanted me to watch the video of President-elect Obama's National Security Star press conference. The letter concludes:

These appointees will be tasked with strengthening current alliances and forging new ones, protecting our citizens at home, defending against our enemies, and promoting our values and moral leadership throughout the world.

While the challenges they are sure to face will be great, the opportunities to unify our country and our world will be even greater.

With your support, we'll meet those challenges and opportunities with the hope and optimism that has brought us to this moment of change.

Thank you,

David

David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America

The above e-mail is, I believe, the first of many encouraging me to stay plugged in to the political process. In this case I was happy to say "good job." It seems to me that the blogosphere is still alive with controversy, activist organizations, environmental groups, etc. As always, we activists asked to sign petitions. A person e-mailed me to sign a petition to encourage the Illinois governor to appoint Rep. Jan Shakowsky (who started as a community activist) to fill former Senator Obama's seat.

And, finally, there are entreaties to communicate with officials asking that Democrats' "change" incorporates whatever is the current cause of the organization. There is the One campaign, the WE campaign regarding clean energy, ACLU, Democracy Now, Credo Action, etc. This cause recommends automatic voter registration. My activist blog friend, "betmo" sent me the link.

Activists must stay well informed and I know of no better sources than the nonprofit investigative journalists at ProPublica, where " Midnight Regulations," was written by Joaquin Sapien and Jesse Nankin, November 18, 2008. This is a very fine chart keeping track of what Bush is pushing through that will be so very damaging to the country. To quote, "Here is a rundown of rules and regulations that the Bush administration is pushing through the rule making process in its waning days."

I do not normally post my political opinions here at Making Good Mondays. Today however, it is more geared to staying active in your community and your nation, a good follow-up to Thanksgiving, I would say.

Hat Tip Key: Regular contributors of links to leads are "betmo*" and Jon#.

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