Conservatives and Normals . Com - The Blog

What and When is the General Election?

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Stand Up and be Counted

The US General election is held the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of even-numbered years. Guess what… that means we have one coming up this November 4th. Now, who gets elected in this general election?

The entire US House of Representatives gets elected and 1/3 of Congress on a given general election. The President of the United States is also elected during a general election that follows primaries.

That pretty much sums up what a general election is and when a general election takes place. If you want more detailed information, I recommend visiting “The Green Papers,” to learn the intricacies of the election.

C ontact your congressman/woman, legislatures and other elected officials to find out who represents you and what they’re up to. Make sure they know you are voting in the upcoming general election and hold them accountable. As I’ve said many times before… this country will be a much better place to live for everyone when more people get involved in the election process and start holding elected officials accountable. If you have time, read about a continuing project of mine entitled “Project Elected Official Accountability,” that I want to accomplish in my community in order to help make the actions of my elected officials visible for their respective constituents.

With your help, we will be able to accomplish projects like that in the future.

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Tags: Political Accountability, Politics
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Who Represents Me in Congress?

Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

How to Contact Your Congressman

As I mentioned in a previous post entitled “What is a state legislature,” the US Legislature is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Generally speaking, your congressman is a Representative and it is considered faux pas to call a senator a congressman/woman. So how do you contact your congressman? Well, it’s pretty simple and I even have a link to a government site on most pages on this website that will give you many resources to contact almost all of your elected officials. Here is a direct link to the site to help you get started: Contact elected officials.

So why do you want to contact your elected officials? Are you trying to make positive changes in our society or are you just looking to gripe? Maybe you have a question for them or are just curious to know. Regardless of the reason you are looking to contact your elected officials, let me just say “Thank you.” You obviously care about our society and the direction our country is headed. I hope more people begin to be inquisitive about these subjects and start to educate themselves and the people around them. Can you imagine how different our society would be if everyone knew who represented them and how to make social and political changes? That’s my goal with this website… to bring information to the people. There are many ways to find out the information presented on this website but guess what… here’s one more! Help me change the world for the better and add this blog to your RSS Feed or donate to this site so I can continue to improve the site and add better content. Thank you for your support and for making positive changes in our society.

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Tags: Political Accountability, Politics
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What is a State Legislature?

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

And Why Should I Care?

There are a few names for the “State Legislature,” which is actually just a generic term for each states Legislative body. Some states call the body the “General Assembly,” some call it the “General Court,” while others call it the “Legislature” or “Legislative Assembly.”

Ultimately, the “legislature” is just a group of people in each state (about 7,500 people nationwide), that reside in “chambers” and make laws. All states except Nebraska have what is called a bicameral legislature, which means they consist of two chambers or “houses.” In most states that have a bicameral system, the smaller chamber is called the “Senate” and the larger chamber is called the “House of Representatives.” A few states call the larger chamber the “Assembly” or “House of Delegates.”

Why should you care?

You should care about your legislative body because these are the people that set checks and balances and make laws such as the matters that are introduced by your governor, or governator, if you live in California. Do you know what your governor is up to lately? Do you know which laws he’s trying to get passed that don’t make any sense? I believe each elected official should have a website which lists what they’re up to, and that’s a battle I’m going to fight to make happen as long as I possibly can. Businesses and other special interests lobby your legislative body in order to obtain favorable legislation. “Here you go Senator, now remember, that lake doesn’t have any endangered species now does it? Does IT.” You get the idea.

Hopefully this gives you a general idea about what a state legislature is and will give you a base to explore this topic even further. If you don’t like what your state is doing with its budget, what corporations are getting away with in your state, or you just want to make some positive changes, start asking your governor and state legislature to start doing the right thing!