|
|
|
Last Updated: Mar 31, 2009 - 2:29:20 PM |
Through his cell phone and Twitter, Rep. Leonard Boswell opens a window to government for his constituents. Mitch Traphagen Photo
|
Leonard Boswell is using Twitter.
Yeah, and so is almost every media talking head and the 12-year-old kid next door. For Boswell and the roughly 700,000 people he works for, however, there is a difference. More than just random musings in 140 characters or less, Twitter gives Boswell and his constituents the opportunity to impact our nation. Leonard Boswell, you see, is a United States Congressman.
Twitter is a messaging service that distributes short messages to people who sign up on a Website. It is a bit like broadcast text messaging – instead of sending a text to a single person, thousands of people can receive the message. They, in turn, can send messages back. The messages are called “tweets” and may sent either from a computer or from a cell phone. People can follow along on the Web page or they can have the tweets sent directly to their phones.
Much has been made recently on the late night comedy shows and in somewhat tongue-in-cheek editorials about members of Congress tweeting on their Blackberry cell phones while President Obama spoke during his national address on Feb. 24. “Don’t they have anything better to do?” was a frequently asked question.
No, actually, they don’t. For the first time in the nation’s 232-year history, Twitter is making it possible for people to participate in the workings of government as it happens. Never before have people been able to hear from their elected officials from the floor of the House of Representatives. Never before have Americans been able to become involved and even participate so directly in the functions of government. You can now know what your representatives are thinking and doing – they work for you, after all. Twitter makes “by the people” possible.
One of the most famous sentences in the English language, the opening of the United States Declaration of Independence, would have been too long for a tweet. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” is 209 characters. Those experienced with Twitter, however, would likely find a way to make it fit with creative use of the language.
When the Declaration of Independence was signed, up to 200 copies were printed to be distributed and read to the public. Five days passed before General George Washington was able to read it to his troops. It took more than a month for the document to make it into newspapers in England.
Today, during congressional debates, an elected official could potentially send a message from the floor, “Listening to debate – what do you think about this?” or “I voted for this because….” Those simple messages, the handful of characters, brings representative government to the people in way the Founding Fathers couldn’t begin to envision. While the concept was beyond imagination in 1776, more than two centuries later, it certainly fills the spirit of their intentions and ideals.
It also fills the spirit of America’s greatest leaders since. Twitter has the potential to open a window into the most hallowed American institutions, thus truly making government of the people, by the people and for the people.
Today, more than 100 members of Congress, the ideological descendents of the Founding Fathers who met that long ago July in Philadelphia, have opened that window for their constituents. All you have to do is join in.
For those in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District, it is located at twitter.com/LeonardBoswell.
What follows is a public comments section. This is not from the Herald staff - it comes from other people and contains their opinions and theirs alone. The East Iowa Herald does not control the material that follows. We do, however, reserve the right to remove objectionable material at our discretion. By that we mean that we will edit or delete any content that we deem is inappropriate. By posting your comments, you are stating that you agree to these terms.
Click here to report a comment.
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
© Copyright 2009 by The East Iowa Herald
Top of Page
|
|
|
|
Skies: CloudyTemperature: 35F 2CDewpoint: 26F -3CRelative Humidity: 69%Wind: N at 7m - 11kBarometric Pressure: 30.16SUpdated: 04:42:55 AM