Citizenship means being involved

Tuesday we did part of our civic duty, but just part of it.

Voting shouldn't be the end of the process, especially in close decisions, in which nearly half the population doesn't get what it wants.

The Seattle mayoral race is like that, and given the way it happened, it's likely many people didn't get what they wanted.

I hope we all learned that waiting for an election to send a message to city hall is a poor way to manage a government. Whatever you think about the outcome of Tuesday's votes, don't walk away.

Leadership matters, but whoever's in the hot seat, it's still our government. We should play a part in shaping it.

Now, stop rolling your eyes.

Somebody's going to influence all those elected officials, why not you? No time? No money?

No excuse.

I believe that, but I slide into cynicism myself sometimes.

So Tuesday, while I was trying to figure out what the ballot numbers meant, I called Nancy Amidei for a civic-engagement booster shot.

Amidei has worked in government, taught at the University of Washington School of Social Work and been an advocate for social policies that benefit vulnerable populations.

She's been trying to get other folks involved with government for years.

Amidei said the two biggest obstacles to participation are cynicism about government and ignorance of how it works.

In the absence of an understanding of government, negative chatter takes hold, people believe everyone in government is corrupt or incompetent.

But, she said, elected officials, "are our neighbors, the guy down the street, the person who taught us in second grade."

They take office "wanting to do good as they see it. They put in killer long hours, put up with heavy demands, then we act like they are all jerks."

Amidei does 50 to 100 civics training sessions a year and hasn't slowed down since she retired from the UW last year.

Often she'll ask audiences when they last had an organized lesson in how a bill becomes a law. For a lot of people its middle school, or even watching "Schoolhouse Rock!" during Saturday morning cartoon time.

"Here we pride ourselves on being such a great democracy and yet we don't give our own citizens the tools they need to be effective participants in that democracy," she said.

But if politicians can learn on the job, so can citizens. First lesson, most politicians don't bite.

"We have an amazingly accessible state Legislature," Amidei said. "We have City Council members who will sit down with anyone."

And you might know something they need to hear.

"If we got everybody who did any kind of community services to think about why people need their help and to contact their representatives about whatever they've seen, that would be incredibly powerful," Amidei said.

One of the messages she tries to get across is that you don't need to make a career of politics to have influence.

There is an advocacy group for just about every issue you can think of, she said. And it's easy now to add your voice to a cause you care about.

Groups will send you an e-mail alert when issues come up that require some kind of action. You choose when to respond.

The Legislature even has a toll-free line that makes delivering a message nearly effortless (800-562-6000).

And if they don't listen, there'll always be another election.

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.