 Aloha. Thanks for considering the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary. This commentary is about politics. Politics are not all local anymore. If you hadn't noticed, elections have gone national, and most of us regularly get email from candidates who are running in other states asking for money or support. Indeed, these candidates and political organizations are asking strangers in distant states for help because they think we can help them. And yes, maybe we can. Sometimes they're in battleground states that have national importance and really need to hear from us, sometimes they just need to get money from outside because they can't raise enough at home. The bottom line is that congressional elections, and even some state elections have become national. You shouldn't just delete the email you get from candidates in other states. It's worthwhile to take a look at it and figure out who these candidates are, and what they stand for. Making the newspaper could help. Then maybe you can decide which ones are worthy of your support, and possibly even consider giving them some money. We need to refresh the composition of Congress. It's increasingly clear that there are some real bums in Congress, especially in the Senate. We need to throw them out, and the only way we can do that is by recognizing this reality and making contributions to worthy congressional candidates running in other states. Maybe this can ameliorate the problems with the electoral college and the two senator per state rule. In a way, contributions are kind of like voting, aren't they? Voting is good but remember there are a number of red states where the GOP has passed legislation to reverse the popular vote and turn the system upside down. Of course you can only vote in your own state. If you want to have an effect on what happens in other states, the best way, the only way, is to give money to the candidates you like. Sure, you can travel to the mainland and walk door to door, or get on a phone bank from home. You can also send mass mail or mass email if you have the resources, but that could be expensive. It's much more efficient to do the research, get on the internet, and send a few bucks to the candidates of your choice, wherever they are. If they can do it on the mainland, we can do it from here. Thanks so much for your consideration of the views expressed in this ThinkTech commentary. Aloha.