My very first experiences in politics and civic engagement, during my final years of high school, were through my participation in an organization called Frontlash. One of the primary goals of Frontlash, was to encourage young people to get involved in politics and get them out to vote. I became the (volunteer) High School coordinator for St. Paul Frontlash, with my very own desk in the offices of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. The summer after I graduated from high school, I received an internship in Washington DC, during which I contacted all fifty Secretary of State offices, to collect information for a guidebook on the various voter registraion laws and procedures across our country.

Today, my work still centers on encouraging people to take an active role in politics and local decision making. But, through my e-democracy and deliberative democracy work, I’ve adopted a more comprehensive view of civic engagement, in which voting is only the entry point towards an active and fulfilling civic life.

YET, we cannot and should not ever dismiss the importance of voting as an entree point into the many deeper opportunities for individuals to help shape their communities and our country. It is often during the act of voting, that individuals begin to recognize the very personal responsibility that they have in the civic life of our nation.

Thanks to my friend Anthony, I recently came across an organization called Why Tuesday? that claims to be “fixing our voting system, one question at a time.” I like their method of tackling the very large problems we have with our voting system in the US, by asking a very simply question – Why Tuesday?

Its clear, that they do not see weekend voting as the solution to all our voting problems, but they do see it as a very practical and realistic place to start. They are making good use of the internet and online video (check out their YouTube page) to raise the question and draw attention to their cause.

I plan to bookmark this organization to keep track of what they are doing and potentially take a more active role in their campaign, at some point in the future. I made a small financial contribution to their effort already.

By the way, their answer to the question of “Why Tuesday?” is:

“The reason we vote on Tuesday makes perfect sense — at least it did in 1845.
To understand the decision Congress made that year, let’s imagine ourselves as members of early agrarian American society. Saturday was for farming, Sunday was the Lord’s day, Monday was required for travel to the county seat where the polling places were, Tuesday you voted, Wednesday you returned home, and Thursday it was back to work.”

At the recent national conference on dialogue and deliberation, I was introduced to the concept of “Transpartisanship.” One definition of transpartisanship, found on wikipedia, looks like this:

“Transpartisanship recognizes the existence and validity of many points of view, and advocates a constructive dialogue aimed at arriving at creative, integrated, and therefore, breakthrough solutions that meet the needs of all present.”

The issue of transpartisanship came up at NCDD during a sub-plenary panel discussion about “Walking our Talk: What the D&D Community Can Learn from Conservatives.” One of the panelists, Joseph McCormick,
was introduced “a pioneer of the transpartisan movement, teaching people how to increase their political empowerment by constructively engaging across political divides.” At the end of the session, Mr. McCormick plugged an upcoming event being organized by the Transpartisan Alliance, timed to coincide with the bicentennial anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, dubbed the “American Citizens’ Summit.”

The American Citizens’ Summit, is described as an opportunity for:

“citizens, leaders and experts from all sides will come together in search of effective strategies for empowering a unified political voice that can restore a healthy balance of power in America. We will engage in a new type of political dialogue that respects and values all points of view. Together we will utilize dialogue, deliberation and conflict resolution tools that enable conservatives, liberals, independents and unaffiliated citizens to communicate respectfully and effectively, and to re-build trust. We will demonstrate that Americans can work together and cooperate for the good of us all.”

Personally, I’m still not entirely sure what to think about this movement or this “citizens’ summit,” however I’ve noted a number of friendly names associated with the project and the goals and values very much reflect my own. I’m not quite ready to register for the summit, but I think I’ll put a placeholder on my calendar and give it some serious thought over the next week or two.