This new economy is being defined principally by its power to unlock the potential of markets, to transform retailing and to create unimaginable wealth for a privileged few in our society.
-Commissioner William E. Kenard, FCC

In our political system, government and economics are firmly intertwined. As a government professor once told me, "Government is about who gets the cookies." Those who care enough to influence the government get the cookies. Don't you want some?

Every day people in far away buildings make decisions that affect our lives. The decisions they make determine legislation that affects things like the amount we pay for food, the minimum amount we can expect to receive for any job, even whether our love relationships will be legally accepted as marriage.

As government grows larger and larger (probably not a reversible trend at this point) government decisions affect us more and more. Don't you feel like you should have a say about those decisions?

You should and you can and the Internet greatly increases your ability to do so. Rather than "unimaginable wealth for a privileged few in our society," wouldn't it be great to shape a future that held more opportunity for all? A future like that will only arise through political action.

The Internet makes it easier than ever to become politically active. It's easier to know the issues. It's easier to register. It's easier to organize. Government of the people, for the people, and by the people only occurs when the people participate in the democratic system.

Kris Swett, a senior and political science major at Chico State University, says that he believes the Internet has an unpredictable potential to affect the way this country is run. "The Internet has not affected the process within the political arena yet," Swett said. "Yet being the key word."

His studies have also led him to the conclusion that, in general, the young embrace new technologies more readily than the old. "It is interesting that the Internet is a tool that, for the most part, only the youth have accepted as a vital source of communication," Swett said.

Which means young Internet users can greatly influence the future of American politics. But only if we choose to.

Turn on. Log on. Drop in.

Our future depends on it.

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment.
-Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977)

To learn how the Internet is changing the political landscape and how you can participate, click on the links below.