But let's give it a try anyway. Most public officials of my acquaintance, from the schoolhouse to the White House, struggle with constituent communication. We are cheerleaders for democracy. We try to encourage your participation. State Senator Joe Bolkcom produces the innovative and informative cable program Iowa News and Views .
Many officials have newsletters.
School Board members serve on committees, attend meetings, make talks and hold meetings in schools. E-mail and Web pages make the process easier for some. And this column is, in one sense, just one more example. I suffer no illusions about my ability as a columnist or the number of readers. Mostly sentence fragments.