Recently, I created a list of possible topics for future blog posts. One of the topics on that list is, “Why I do the Work I do.” This evening, as I watched John McCain’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, I found myself sitting through a barage of negative campaign ads, mostly from independent organizations that are not accountable to any particular campaign or to the public in general. It was very discouraging, yet reminded me of why I do the work I do.

For those of us who follow politics and public policy, one does not have to wait very long before seeing claims made in negative ads, that are complete distortions of reality and obvious attempts to rewrite history, in the name of promoting a particular candidate, or more likely, in the name of tearing down their opponent.

For too many Americans, its already difficult enough to engage with family members or work colleagues in rational debates on the important issues facing our country. Watching these television ads, does a disservice to those millions of American’s who donate time and money to work on both political and advocacy campaigns, with the hope of making our country better.

My personal interest in online democracy and citizen engagement, is in finding ways to make it easier for individuals to participate in the political process and local decision making, without feeling as if they have to sell their souls.

Several years ago, I attended the Politics Online Conference in Washington DC. As I explained to some friends at the conference, I felt very much out of place. At that time, too much of the conference seemed to be about how to use online tools to divide and conquer, in the name of promoting a particular candidate or issue. Too much of the focus of that conference, in my opinion, appeared to be aimed at determining the best ways to polarize the public, to achieve one’s preferred political agenda.

It is my own belief, that democracy works best when we work together and when everyone feels as if their opinions and contributions matter. One of my personal goals in the field of online democracy, is finding tools and techniques that bring people into decision making processes and help them better understand the sincere interests and beliefs of their political opponents.

Much of the important work at improving our communities and our countries is done by people who are willing to set aside their own personal agenda, to find commonalities and opportunities to cooperate with those who usually disagree with them. I’m interested in the use of online tools, to help folks of diverse political opinions to speak with each other, instead of “at” each other. I’m interested in online democracy, as a potential tool to help individuals find their voice in what can be an intimidating, aggressive, and overwhelming world of politics and policy making.

I hope to explore this theme further in future blog posts. Thanks for listening/reading.