http://www.leftinthewest.com Left in the West Sun, 26 May 2013 06:56:13 GMT http://www.leftinthewest.com/diary/4692/announcing-the-road-to-helena Why NOT throw your hat into the ring? <p>In an era of of extreme cynicism about government, maybe it's time for everyone to engage rather than retreat. The overriding reason for the GOP capture of the Montana legislature in 2010 was that Democrats and left-leaning independents didn't vote. On both the national, state and local levels Republicans had better organization and more participation so they won. It's pretty simple. <p>I propose that more of us need to engage and participate if we really want to fight for our beliefs. Participation is the mother's milk of democracy. Participation stems from basic civics i.e. from simply voting to volunteering, contributing or even running, as I have chosen to do. The recent debate in WDC over the budget cap gave Americans a cynical choice between bad policy by Republicans and bad leadership by Democrats. Here's to trying to boost our side, even just a little. <p><a href="http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_88180012-b975-11e0-beb9-001cc4c03286.html">http://missoulian.com/news/sta...</a> <br /> Legislature HD 93 campaign Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:11:45 GMT Doug Coffin http://www.leftinthewest.com/diary/4692/announcing-the-road-to-helena