I spent most of July and August watching the news. Why, you ask? I was watching because the development of town hall story was the best soap opera on television. It wasn’t the drama however that kept me watching after a few weeks, it was watching the electorate wake up that really interested me. People are more active in their local and national politics than ever before and it is a beautiful thing to behold. There have been several issues which have seemed to set the country ablaze in recent years. The Iraq war, the September 11^th attacks, and even George W. Bush himself have been only a few of the issues that have drawn more and more people into the national conversation. The current debate on the national stage is health care and the various bills about the subject that now sit in Congress. The hope now is that the larger turnout at the recent town hall meetings will result in larger voter turnout at the polls.

   A clear up tick in voter turnout can be seen over the last decade when many of the aforementioned issues were the talk of all media. The website, United States Elections Project (http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2000G.html) states that in 2000 just over 107 million people voted in the election. George W. Bush won of course and roughly eight months after he took office the United States was attacked by al Qaeda. That event and the subsequent war started a dialogue in the country that hadn’t been seen in a long time. The Elections Project states that the total ballots counted turnout rate was 55.3%. That number had only risen to 55.4% by 2004 however. The total votes rose by about 16 million. This increase in population when compared to the turnout rate can arguably be attributed to a higher population in 2004.

   The events that occurred in Bush’s second term seemed to be a trigger however, because the voter turnout rate jumped to 61.7% in 2008 with the total vote count at just over 132 million. There is little doubt that the jump in turnout stems from two stagnate wars and a failing economy. Another large factor in voter turnout for the 2008 election was the Obama campaign. Many people who had never really gotten involved in politics were suddenly showing up to rallies and donating money to Obama, Oprah Winfrey even endorsed him, something she had never done before. The reasons why more people voted in 2008 are really of little importance though, the point is that more people voted.

   The truly exciting of part of all the town hall meetings, the tea parties, and the campaign is that people all across the country are more involved in the national debate than ever before. The hope now is that those who have never gotten involved before from both sides of the aisle will do more than just speak at a town hall meeting, the hope is that they will take action in a voting booth. The founders of this country envisioned a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. For too long however, Americans have squandered the right to vote that was given to them. For too long there were more people that didn’t vote than did and for a country that speaks to the world about free and legal elections it has been shocking to see how little Americans exercise that very right. There are so many people around the world that do not get the chance to vote and many more whose vote really does not count. For Americans as a whole to choose not to vote is both a disgrace and a shame. The tide is turning however and for those that envision an America where everyone has a voice and uses it, it is amazing to watch.

    I remember telling my mother that at 8:30pm I wanted to watch something on television. She asked me what I wanted to watch and my reply was simply, “Ross Perot.” She sat with me that night and we watched Perot’s 30 minute campaign infomercial discussing all along the way the interesting points and his various pie charts. I was hooked that year for reasons that really still elude me. There was something about it, maybe it was because it was George Bush’s attempt at re-election, or how charming the man from Hope seemed to be. But most likely it was because of Ross Perot’s plain way of speaking, he spoke in such a way that even at 14 years old I could understand what was going on. For the first time it occurred to me that my government mattered in my everyday life. All of those old men that I saw on television were the ones that were making the decisions that would impact my future.

   I really started paying attention to politics that year and I have been watching the people in Washington ever since. Really, I had never paid much attention to local or state politics, that is until the last two years. I began to take notice with the property tax debacle, watching my property taxes triple that year was quite a shock. Its sobering to think that I tried to avoid higher property taxes by buying an older home on the city’s near Southside, only to have them triple after I purchased the home.

   Another reason I began to pay attention to state politics was because one day Mitch Daniels announced that he was leaving George W. Bush’s White House to run for governor of Indiana. I had first heard of him reading various news articles about his time in the White House. My admiration of Daniels only grew over the ensuing years leading me to volunteer for his campaign during his reelection. And he was a friend of Bush’s at the time and any friend of his was a friend of mine, at least politically. The first time I went to a campaign rally it was a Bush campaign stop in 2000 at an Indianapolis International Airport hanger. My two small sons and I waited in line for what felt like hours to hear him speak that day and it felt great to finally be a part of the national discussion.

   I really feel that I am blessed to have been born in this country, especially since I am a woman. I know that there are other countries in the western world that respect women’s rights. That being said however, I truly believe that if I had been born anywhere else in the world I would not have had the same rights and opportunities that I have here. For that reason, I want to help to keep it true to its original intentions, what the founders wanted.

As for me, I am a married 32 year old mother of two boys. My husband and I have been married for almost 14 years and we own a home near the University of Indianapolis campus. I am also a birthmother, a woman who has given a child up for adoption. My family is also heavily military, both of my parents as well as several aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Obviously, military and adoption issues are of particular interest to me. I hope that this introduction has helped you to get to know me and where I am coming from. In the coming weeks and months I hope that I will provoke you to talk, to act, to think. But really, what do I know? I'm just another American voice, one amongst millions.