Jodee Taylor: Sen. What's-their-name

Jodee Taylor

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Jodee Taylor

October 11, 2010

By JODEE TAYLOR jtaylor@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Mon Oct 11, 2010, 07:50 AM EDT

I had a chance to hang out with some teenagers a few weeks ago.

They were a thoughtful, well-spoken, ambitious group, the kind of kids who restore your faith in the next generation.

They were being peppered with questions about their hopes, their dreams, the future of the world and they were rising to the occasion nicely.

Then I had to go and speak up.

"Who are your U.S. senators?" I asked.

It wasn't a really well-thought-out question, but afterwards I was kind of proud of it. "Who's the president?" is too easy, as well as asking about a governor who's been running the state half their lives. But senators — those people in Washington who make our laws — are a bit removed from our daily lives, making it easy to not pay too much attention to them. Plus, our own senators — hint: there are two — are well-behaved enough that they don't end up on "The Daily Show" very often, meaning you'd have to pay some kind of attention to know their names.

Apparently, we're not paying enough attention.

Out of the six kids I talked to that day, one kid knew one senator.

I was incensed! What are they teaching kids these days? How can teenagers be so out of touch?

Then I thought again. What if it's not just teenagers?

I started asking around. One 20-something server at a nearby pub got one senator's name; the other one was clueless. I asked a few more random people on the street; my average ended up being about .250 out of 15 or so people.

I even asked two of my best friends — 50-something professional women. One got one name, the other blanked.

U.S. senators are important. Granted, neither of Michigan's is up for re-election this year, which might explain why their names aren't second nature to us. But they're out there, voting on whether to send us to war, whether to pass health care reform, how to handle a financial crisis.

And they're very useful, too. They can help someone get admitted to a military academy, help adopt a child from another country and come to your rescue if you're in trouble overseas.

It pays to know what they're working on and how to get in touch with them — not just their names. You can let our senators know how you feel about anything — war, peace, school lunches — and they hear you. Write an e-mail, fill out a form on a website, then watch democracy in action. Your input may turn into a vote on the Senate floor.

I once asked a politician how he decided on an issue, in what order did he weigh his votes. He said first of all, he's true to himself. Second of all, he's true to his constituency. Last, and way down the line, came the party line.

If you want your senator (or congressman or state rep or state senator) to know how you feel about an issue, that it's important to you, that you are a voter in his or her district and you want your voice heard, you have to speak up. Make a phone call, write a letter, send an e-mail.

Talk to Sen. Carl Levin (in the Senate for 31 years) and Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Jodee Taylor can be reached at jtaylor@record-eagle.com.