MeriTalk Will Make the Next President Hear Your Opinion

It is always easy to criticize, especially when it comes to politics. Unfortunately too many people prefer to criticize instead of actually doing something on their own. Today we are seeing a new initiative that is intended to let the new President know what direction we believe the new Administration should take.

The political social network MeriTalk offers a way for everyone to reach out to the newly elected president with his or her opinion. Today the network announces a competition where everyone will be able to write a letter to presidential candidates that the President will receive on the inauguration day.

The competition is told to be aimed at Generation Y with the contestants invited to write thoughtful and creative letters. The author of the best message will win a trip to Washington on Inauguration Day to enter the letter into the congressional record.

This contest is positioned as a way for any American citizen to participate in determining the policy of the next Administration and also demonstrate the influence that internet and new technologies can have in dialog with public officials, even at the highest levels.

While I do think this is an interesting initiative, I am not happy with how the competition is organized – there are no mentions of who will choose the winner or even the detailed description of what criteria will be used. Besides, if they really want to demonstrate the power of the internet, probably a better approach would be to let the users decide with their votes what letter will win. Another approach could be to have the letter written in parts (say, a paragraph on European politics, a paragraph on taxation, etc.) by all the users with the best pieces making it to the letter itself. But even this initiative already seems to be a step in the right direction and hopefully others will take the next logical steps.

But anyway for everyone willing to participate and have their voices heard, the contest is ready to accept submissions.