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May 24, 2007

Government of the people, by the people, for the people…

This quote from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address has always struck me. These ten words capture the essence of democracy in a way that my high school U.S. History textbooks never could. I was reminded of this quote this week as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, asked the Yahoo! Answers community for their insights on climate change — “Congress is working on legislation to address global warming — what would you like to see included?”

Ten years ago when the World Wide Web was just taking off, pundits declared that it would change our world. And many of their predictions have been correct — commerce, news and information, communications, politics — they’ve all been affected and in many ways transformed by the Web. The Speaker engaging the Answers community for input on active legislation is simply more evidence of the Web’s transformative power. And it brings us one small step closer to the vision Lincoln outlined.

While we don’t yet know how this data will be used by the Speaker and her staff, we hope you’ll take the time to share your thoughts on reversing global warming.

Nathan Gamble
Yahoo! Search

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Comments

  1. Thanks a lot

    Posted by: Sevgi Sohbet Ask | May 24th, 2007 3:27 pm

  2. It’s not the job of any government to protect the planet.

    Posted by: Trade Show Displays | May 25th, 2007 7:04 am

  3. Hi to all,

    all of human being must help to Venezuela about the CHAVEZ’ resolution of closing the TV Station in Caracas, Today He gave the order to the army for to stay in streets and avenues and doesnot leave the people walks in democracy defense.

    Posted by: Sonambulo | May 25th, 2007 8:08 am

  4. “Nearly ever” intelligent person agrees, you’re right.

    Posted by: Trade Show Booths | May 27th, 2007 2:37 pm

  5. hi

    Global Warming is an entirely political issue. 99% of the people who comment on Global Warming know nothing about the “science” as it relates to the issue beyond what they’ve seen presented in Al Bore’s documentary. The people who know what’s going on are so scared of what’s going to happen that they’re certainly working on the issue, and don’t need political motivation.

    Jatin Sharma
    IT Outsource, skills outsource, Online Advertising, Web development, SEO
    http://www.itoutsourceonline.com

    Posted by: Jatin Sharma | May 29th, 2007 6:46 pm

  6. Nathan, just to set the record straight, the United States of America is not a democracy. It is a republic. There is a considerable difference, and the fact that we have gotten away from that republic is at the heart of most of our problems.

    Posted by: Jay | June 5th, 2007 2:24 pm

  7. i must say what they’ve seen presented in Al Bore’s documentary. The people who know what’s going on are so scared of what’s going to happen

    Posted by: heath | June 6th, 2007 11:17 pm