Can Twitter Influence the Government?

“You gotta fight… for your right… to Paaarrrty!” ~ Beastie Boys

I grew up in a small town outside of Fresno, CA.  Currently the town boasts a population of a whopping 50k people.  That is a huge increase from the 30k people that inhabited the town in my youth.  The economic stability of the community thrives mainly on the agricultural success of the local farmers, which as of late has hit upon tough times due to water right issues.

California has been awarded $2.5 billion in federal high-speed rail funding to support a rail way that will connect San Francisco to Los Angeles. The proposed railway would have stops all up and down the state, including my sleepy little village (which already has a very active Amtrak station). This would help bolster the struggling economy and create new jobs in an environmentally sound industry.

There is a grass root’s movement to rally support and I received an email from a friend and former high school classmate, Seth Champi, who manages the “Strongly in Favor of a High Speed Train Station in Hanford, CA” group on FaceBook. He forwarded an email he had received from Cassidy Smith, who is trying to rally people to show support of having the high speed train station in Hanford (this my friends is how viral grass root campaigns get started).

Cassidy’s call to action was simple:

The California High Speed Rail Authority Board will be meeting in Sacramento on Thursday, June 3rd at 9:00 am.

“Show them that we need the rail to go THROUGH the towns of the Valley, not just follow the I-5. The Valley should be the backbone of the system and also see its benefits.

Take an Amtrak train up to Sacramento — one leaves from Hanford at 6:12 am and arrives at 10 am.

Or you could even tweet your support at http://twitter.com/cahsra while the meeting is taking place. Either way, we need to show our support.”

Now I am not able to drop everything and run out to Sacramento and many of my fellow Hanfordites have since left the small town and spread themselves across the globe. This does not mean our affinity or concern for the welfare of our beloved hometown is any less. Through the power of social media and the use of real time updates we have the opportunity to make our voices heard and participate in creating change.

Even if you have never heard of Hanford (most people haven’t) I invite you to show your support for this cause.  Social media has the power to bring people together globally in order to make changes locally.  Let’s put that power into effect!

This Thursday, starting at 9:00 am PDT, tweet your support at http://twitter.com/cahsra and let’s make this happen!

Tags: Amtrak, California, Facebook, Fresno California, Hanford California, Los Angeles, San Francisco, United States