(The strength of any democracy is determined by the citizens who get involved. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
(cross-posted at TKaos)
Burnt Orange Report, Capitol Annex, Texas Kaos, and other blogs are great places to follow the highlights and lowlights of legislative initatives that are flowing through the halls of the Texas legislature that you wouldn't necessarily catch on the evening news. A great new website allows you take it a step further and track the legislation you are interested in at both the state and federal levels.
The site is BillHop.com. It is a new wiki/ social organizing website for legislation and public policy that allows anyone to provide input and information on bills moving through the state legislatures and Congress. It also provides a platform from which to advocate one's policy positions and connect with others who have similar advocacy interests. The idea is to involve more people in the legislative process, while providing more context to the issues that affects us all.
It's been more than a year since John Courage announced his bid to run for Congress in Congressional District 21. It was September 17, 2005 on the Texas State Capitol grounds that John started this political journey. A bus full of supporters came along on that announcement tour. Change was in the air.
Prominent bloggers Gary Abramson (Reality Bites Back) and Dante Atkins (Hekebolos) have chosen the John Courage campaign as one of the subjects of their blog and film documentary project, Crashing the States.
Austin, Texas--There's been a lot of talk on the blogs lately about Howard Dean and the 50-state strategy and the already-successes that are taking place in the strangest places for Democrats around the country like Wyoming, Mississippi, Idaho, and Montana. Well, you can add Texas to that list as well.
(Crossposted at MyDD, Daily Kos, and Texas Kos--please recommend if you like what you read!)
It's been an exciting last few months. I have been working very hard to get support in my bid to defeat Lamar Smith and bring a real voice for positive change to Texas Congressional District 21. Thanks to you, the netroots, I have been honored by becoming your Democracy for America Grassroots All-Star and your Senator Feingold Progressive Patriot.
Now I am on the threshold of getting into the final round of Governor Mark Warner's Mapchanger contest, with just a few hours left to vote, and I wanted to let you know about our campaign and what we have been up to down here in Central Texas.
