Political Scientists sometimes argue over whether the US is a republic or a democratic republic. I lean toward the latter. What we don’t argue over is whether or not the US is a true democracy – it’s not. Democracy requires that the public itself make all the decisions. We don’t do that – and nothing larger than a city-state ever has. Frankly, no one really wants a true democracy – the evidence is in the huge number of people who try hard to ignore the political world. Imagine dragging those poor souls into a debate over whether we build a library or a park. Now imagine that they have to have an opinion on every political issue – and remember that ninety percent of those are boring budgetary matters.

It makes for a hilarious sitcom premise – and really bad reality TV. Remember, political reality TV was the first kind of reality TV – and it’s still going. But when was the last time most folks watched Cspan? The truth is, politics is just deciding who decides – which is boring enough – then watching the deciders to make sure they are doing a good job.

It’s kind of a wonder that we haven’t bottled politics as a cure for insomnia. Most of it is mind numbingly boring – which is part of why we’d rather pay other people to do the job. Okay, it’s also unworkable for more than a few thousand people to have to become informed on an issue and then vote responsibly about that issue – and repeat the same thing hundreds of times a year, thousands if we want to regulate everything we currently regulate.

So we have a republican form of government – fancy for we elect representatives to act on our behalf. That means that not every person has a civic responsibility to understand and vote upon absolutely every political issue, big or small. IT does not mean that we can let the government run on autopilot.

We have civic responsibilities inherent in keeping and maintaining a constitutional government. It’s just like taking care of a car – most of us would rather watch paint dry than change the oil. We’re more eager to go to the doctor than the oil change place – but the price we pay for having a good working car is pulling into that little bay every 7500 miles (3000 for older cars).

With similar excitement, we trudge into the voting booth and decide who will represent us for the next few years. Paint drying contests are more exciting than Circuit Clerk Position #4 – at least we know what paint does – but voting is part of the price we pay.

Like car maintenance, there’s more to it. It’s not enough to just hit the button and collect your little ‘I Voted’ sticker. We are the watchdogs. We have to keep an eye on the political road – and our elected drivers. It’s not nearly as labor intensive as having to vote on each and every issue – but it’s more involved than mere ‘plug and play’.

The information we need to do our jobs comes to us readily on that little computer in our pockets. Getting information about major issues and how our representatives are voting is as easy as using a search engine. Okay, there’s the annoying reading or listening part, but it’s still incredibly easy. We need never leave the comfort of our recliners while learning all about what’s going on in the world – and just our little corner of it.

The media is far from perfect – and local coverage leaves much to be desired – but that is actually easiest to fix. As we consume better sources, media pays attention and becomes better – at least the ones that want to stay in business do.

But what about the darn title of the post, huh? What’s this armchair activism? Simple – we can and should affect our government without leaving the comfort of home. The same internet that gives us easy access to information gives us easy ways to communicate with our representatives directly. We can post on their official social media pages, email them and send messages via contact forms. If we prefer, we can get the information we need from their websites, write letters in that word processor that came with the computer, print it and mail it (don’t laugh – this is tremendously effective). We can skip the writing and just click on the phone number and call directly.

Representatives are no different from anyone else – most of them want to keep their jobs. The ones that just want a few years in Congress so they can get a cushy lobbyist position want to keep their reputations. In both cases, really annoyed constituents are bad things for the representative’s long term career – and they know it.

But if all they have are micropolls to tell them what We the People want – the honest truth is we can’t blame them when they get it wrong. But we CAN hold them to account when we’ve told them directly what we want – and they not only know it – they know that they don’t want to have to go home to their districts after a flood of calls, emails and letters have come in unless they have appeased their constituents.

Every direct contact a rep receives is regarded as representative of more than just that one person (unless it’s the one well meaning guy that keeps writing about the need for more grazing for unicorns) – it’s ten, twenty, fifty or a hundred that are just as concerned but didn’t write in. Letters and calls are powerful.

This is the activism that is part of our civic duty. And it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. Maintaining our constitutional government requires keeping an eye on the road. We aren’t driving a Formula One racecar – just a beat up old Chevy that needs a new timing belt. But it’s still the best car in the world – it’s ours and it runs.

Now we just have to keep it that way.