Today - in fact, mere minutes ago - I accomplished what men have dreamed of for years. What did I do, you ask? Engaged the youth vote, ensuring a Democratic majority for decades to come? Developed an electoral strategem so ingenious that Karl Rove will be left standing in the dust? Led a protest that will echo from main street down the corridors of power? No, my friends, none of those.
I just poked Richard Pombo on Facebook.
For truly, is the right to poke one's elected officials not the defining mark of a democracy? What, may I ask, was the American Revolution if not one collective poke in the ribs of King George by his erstwhile American subjects? And yet, in these United States, to poke one's elected officials has been grounds for detention or worse, especially in these paranoid times of the Long War. In the past, I have been reduced to mere metaphorical pokes, such as the time I asked
Dennis Kucinich who would win in a fight between himself and Tom DeLay, or the time I asked
Pat Buchanan (not truly an elected official, but a reasonable surrogate for several) whether in hindsight he really thought all those seniors in Palm Beach County were trying to vote for him. But now, thanks to the efforts of the fine engineers at the Facebook, I can just waltz right up and
poke Richard Pombo.
Virtually.
Now, in the past I've been seen in these quarters asking people to support Mr. Pombo's Democratic opponent, Jerry McNerney. I've often called on my colleagues to financially support Jerry's netroots-endorsed candidacy financially to help offset bought-and-paid-for-Pombo's cash advantage. But today, in the face of this brave new step in the march of Democracy, I ask only for a step that takes little time and no money at all. For all you Facebook fiends out there, friend Jerry McNerney. But most importantly of all, don't forget - to Poke a Pombo.