This is the first in a series of articles about how representative democracy actually affects the citizen. We'll use my area in Virginia as a real-life example and walk through the process of identifying local, state, and federal elected officials, the legislative process, some issues currently being decided by those officials, and how you can get involved.

The first step in understanding how decisions are made, is to identify who is making those decisions. The Internet, in general, and Google, specifically, make this process straightforward.

County Politics

Since you probably know what county you live in, go to Google and type in something like "prince william county government". Replace the county name. The results of the search give us a link to the offical county website. I tried the same search for several other counties in various states. Without fail, I got results that send you to the offical county website.

Review the website, looking for items describing elected officials, the form of government used, etc. From the Prince William County (VA) site:

"Residents in each of the County's seven magisterial districts elect one member of the Board of County Supervisors to serve a four-year term. The eighth member or the Board is elected at-large to serve a four-year term as Chairman. The current Board took office in January 2000 and will serve until December 2003."

By moving through the county website, I am able to find biographies of the County Supervisors, as well descriptions of their districts. It pays to know something about your local area. You should also refer to your voter registration card (you have registered to vote, right?) to see the name or number of your precinct or district.

Edgar Wilbourn was the supervisor for my area. I can see the committees and boards he serves on, as well as some self-congratulatory pap. I know from reading local news sources that traffic, sprawl, and land-use issues are important to the citizens in my area, and our supervisor just got himself voted out based on those issues.

Now, that I know who represents me in the county, I can direct my suggestions, criticism, or praise directly. I can obtain his email or postal address from the website, or postal address from the local telephone book, most likely.

Next time, we'll pursue my statewide elected officials.