Here is some email that I received.

Steven — We just launched RaiseYourVote.com, the centerpiece of our huge voter registration effort. RaiseYourVote.com isn’t just a voter registration site. It serves as a powerful clearinghouse for voter information across the country — armed with pretty much everything you need to know to cast your ballot. It even automatically personalizes to the user’s location — so when you visit the site, you’ll see voter information for your state. But the power of a site like this depends on how many voters see it. Check out RaiseYourVote.com today — and please share it with your friends. The 2008 election was a pivotal moment for our democracy. We saw 15 million people cast ballots for the first time and millions more vote for the first time in decades. These voters helped put President Obama over the top, and made the difference in tight races across the country. This site is about ensuring that we build on that same energy this year. Congressional elections are known to have lower participation than those for president, so we’re starting early with a tool that will help get more Americans involved. And, really, RaiseYourVote.com is just the online part of our unprecedented voter registration efforts already under way on the ground, which we’re ramping up with a national voter registration day of action across the country on July 17th. Casting a ballot shouldn’t be too hard or confusing for anyone — and we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone to get the information they need. In fact, we even created a RaiseYourVote.com “widget” that users can install on their own blogs or websites, making it easy for people everywhere to make registering to vote as simple as possible. Please help us spread the word — send it on to three friends today: http://www.RaiseYourVote.com Thanks, Natalie Natalie Foster New Media Director P.S. — Text “RaiseYourVote” and your state abbreviation to 62262 (example: RaiseYourVote MA) to receive text-message updates on voter registration deadlines and early voting in your state. You’ll also be added to the Organizing for America mobile list to receive regular news and event information straight from OFA headquarters. Standard message and data rates apply. You may text “STOP” anytime to cancel.

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee — 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

The article, Congress Fails to Pass an Extension of Jobless Benefits, appears in The New York Times.

It is clear to me that the Republicans still don’t understand how you get out of a recession.  Their only expertise seems to be creating bubbles whose collapse causes recessions.

They are fighting to keep the extension of jobless benefits from adding to the deficit.  When you are trying to pump prime the economy to get out of a recession, the last thing you want to do is cut back the deficit now.  I emphasize the word now. After we climb out of the recession there will be plenty of time to reduce the deficit.

Well, knowing past history, we could cut the deficit and eventually run a surplus.  When the Democrats finally accomplish this, the American voters will vote the Republicans back into office.  What will be the Republican’s winning argument?  This surplus is your money.  You know how to spend it better than the government.  Put us into office and we’ll cut taxes. Debt of $13 trillion?  What, me worry?

Now for the part of the argument the Republicans won’t give you.  The national debt is also your money.  You owe it, so pay it back.  If we cut taxes instead of decreasing the debt, there will be another huge bubble and we will start the cycle over again.  Of course we’ll think of new ways to blame Barney Frank.  You will never knowingly face the consequences of your actions.  The key word is knowingly.  The consequences of your actions will be there whether you know it or not.

The Afghanistan Reboot: Can Obama and Petraeus Work Together? by Joe Klein from Time Magazine  is a thoughtful piece about the situation in Afghanistan.

One thing that I have learned from my experience in the Army and my experience in private sector employment is the danger of trying to go over the head of your boss and to appeal to higher authority to get what you want.  I am beginning to see that this was the technique that McChrystal and some others in the military have been trying to use.

The analogy to my experience isn’t perfect, but I think it still applies.  Unless your boss is totally incompetent, he or she enjoys the confidence of his or her boss.  Your boss’s boss probably knows your boss much better than he or she knows you.  The further up the chain of command you go, the more likely these observations are true.

When you go up that chain of command, you are asking your boss’s boss to consider issues that he or she has delegated to your boss.  The first thing your boss’s boss is likely to do is to ask your boss for an explanation of the issue.

If your boss appears to his or her boss to have a good handle on the situation, then the issue will probably be re-delegated to your boss.

The bottom line is that you had better have an exceptional case to present if you want to try going up the chain of command.  You had also better have strong evidence that you have tried all the normal processes to be heard and that those processes did not give your idea a fair hearing.  You should also believe in your case so strongly that you are willing to risk your career over it.

At the very least you need to be aware of the above dynamic and be prepared to take counter measures to overcome your disadvantages.  Understanding the dynamic makes you think of ways to avoid being seen as just a chronic complainer.