I think the reason why people resent government so much these days is because they feel much of it has turned into bully groups bent on forcing people into herd mentalities, and to do things against their will. You can hardly move through a day without breaking some rule, code, or regulation.

How many times have you been outraged at something you hear or read relating to a government official or policy, only to feel totally helpless? Wouldn't it be great if you could fire off a letter to that dictator in a third world, or prime minister in Europe, Hillary, or our own Mayor? Well you can!

With the power of the Net, you can now make your voice heard using the convienence of the electronic letter - email, or even fax if you have one.

You might find yourself proudly yelling out loud, "I have not yet begun to write," (apologies to John Paul Jones) as you fire off rounds of emails expressing your displeasures, or even congratulatory ones to government officials around the world. Thanks to the Net, you can keep on top of what world leaders down to small village mayors are thinking. The Net is a wonderful empowerment tool, isn't it!

Politicians of the World
http://www.trytel.com/~aberdeen/index.html

This excellent site lists the mailing addresses for almost every nation's leaders and provincial governors, foreign affairs, and environment ministers or heads in 195 countries. Included are the email and website addresses if they have them and phone and fax.

It lists countries alphabetically and you can download the complete database.

United State Senate
http://www.senate.gov/

Want to fire off an email to Daniel Moynihan (D) or Charles Schumer (D). It's as easy as a click of the mouse.

You can also check out various committees, hearings, search for a particular bill, and keep track of sessions.

United States Representatives
http://clerkweb.house.gov/mbrcmtee/mbrcmtee.htm

You can find similar info on this site dealing with members of the House. Easy access to member's phone numbers and Web pages can be found here, and a nice feature is a complete downloadable mailing list of the complete House in Wordperfect, MS Word, or Text format. So, you can send ALL of them a nice note.

U.S. Conference of Mayors
http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/

Can't remember your mayor's name? Right! Just type in the city and state and bingo - a nice picture of your mayor, population stats for the city, phone number and email address.

You can even read the online version of their U.S. Mayor newspaper. It's a great way to see what is going on in cities around the country. Very informative. Lots of reports and other information that deals with urban problems!

National Association of Counties
http://www.naco.org/

There are 3,066 counties in America, and 48 of the 50 states have operational county governments, according to NACo, which represents almost 60% of them. On this site, you can get information on all of them: Demographics, leaders, contact numbers, codes, ordinances, projects, programs, news, conferences and events.

Access to some of their publications are available online like their County Environmental Quarterly, Legislative Bulletin, fact sheets, and advocacy documents.

Associations of Towns
http://natat.org/natat/STATE_ASSOCIATIONS.HTM

Yup, there is even a national group for towns and townships. I think another term for that is suburb. In 1960, only 36% of the our state population lived in towns. In 1990, that figure has jumped to 47%, almost half.

The New York State page (http://www.nytowns.org/) does not have a lot of info but useful if you want to contact them. You can purchase several town related publications dealing with law, zoning, procedures, etc. Also affiliated with this site (on the home page http://natat.org/default.htm) is the National Center for Small Communities (http://natat.org/ncsc/Default.htm)
This group deals with smaller towns.

Council of State Governments
http://www.statesnews.org/

This web site is based on the premise "the states are the best sources of insight and innovation." That might be optimistic but there is a wealth of information on this site.

Daily news, searchable database for officials and their staff (you need to get an account), proposed laws, publications, calendar of events, and links to other government web sites that deal with State issues round out the site.

U.S. State, & Local Gateway
http://www.statelocal.gov/

This is part of Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership For Reinventing Government. It links many sites that deal with government on all levels on a variety of topics from administrative management to workforce development.

National Governor's Association
http://www.nga.org/

News and legislative updates, press releases, and discussions of key State issues can be found on this site.

There is a list of Governors and links to their State Web sites, as well as individual biographies, office address and phone number. Interestingly, no email address. You need to go to the respective Web sites to find any.

There is an online bookstore to pick up publications dealing with State government and the issues. You can read each governor's 'State of the State' address from 1998 to the present.

State Government Web Servers
http://janus.state.me.us/states.htm

Cut to the chase. If you want to know if a particular State has a Web site, go here. It presents yo with a clickable image of the United States. Click on the State and it will bring you to its Web site.

It also has an clickable alphabetical list and a list of State Gopher sites.

The White House
http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Our very own White House is a good source of information on proposed policy, press releases, and yes even the ability to write to President Clinton and Vice President Gore. Hillary has email too!

There is a good link to federal Web sites in 20 categories from health issues to how to pay back student loans. A great online tour of the history of the White House with bios of every President round out the site.