Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature…. If the next generation does not find us a great nation … it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.

– James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, 1877

If you are serious about ensuring politicians stay accountable and transparent, join us in a new kind of conversation.  The time has come to update political debates for the digital age. Given the capabilities of today’s interactive media, it’s now possible to continue the conversation started in television debates and newspaper coverage. Using the Internet and online video, we can:

• Include ongoing public input on questions of interest;
• Give candidates more time and space to give thoughtful responses; and
• Enable voters to reward politicians with recognition when they choose substance over a sound bite.

If, according to the old saying, “all politics is local,” then the time has come to demonstrate that new, interactive media can invigorate local civic engagement around elections — moving from interest to involvement, from spectacle to civil society.

Personal Democracy Forum, in partnership with Google and YouTube, has created a platform to facilitate that involvement. It’s called 10Questions. Here’s how it works:

• Citizens can post text questions or video questions through YouTube for candidates in the 2010 midterm elections; each race has its own page where we aggregate questions posed for candidates in that specific race.
• Using Google technology, visitors to that site can vote questions up and down. After a set period of public engagement, the 10 top- voted questions in each race are posed to the candidates.
• Candidates then have the opportunity to post video responses, and voters rate those responses for completeness, directness, depth and substance — criteria that are sometimes hard to get out of politicians in the rapid-fire context of a live debate.

Join with American Majority and the Personal Democracy Forum to change the conversation in this country. Politicians answer to us, so let’s start asking the tough questions: