(photo from gilgatelamb.co.uk)
Nov 4: Election day. Perhaps the one day every four years where most
(ok, many) American citizens actively engage in our political system.
Your participation matters: the President sets the agenda, picks the
advisors, and influences the funding, application and even creation of
laws and the rules that enforce them. So, please VOTE.
But you can engage beyond voting. I’m sure some of you have called or
written your Reps and Senators about a bill– check out the websites
for the House and the Senate if you haven’t. The most underused
system is commenting on proposed rules. So what’s a rule? And why do
they matter?
A rule is the method by which agencies interpret laws for action–
whether it is creating a program, ending a program, enforcing a ban,
etc. Most laws are pretty stretchy (politically easier to pass), so
the rules are where political agendas can be acted out relativley
unseen. But wait, transparency does exist! You just have to know the
system: rules are required to have a public comment period (posted on
this handy website: regulations.gov) and agencies are required to
respond to each comment and take them into account as they write the
final rule.
Right now, there is a rule about pasture and organic dairy open to
comment. Some of it is good, some of it is bad (awful, like, what were they
thinking?!).
