There is a feeling of change in the air. That our elected officials should be taken to task for their performance in the name of the electorate – and there's nothing wrong with that. It's 2010 and we as a people are more informed as a society today than we were 10, 20 and definitely 30+ years ago – that's not conjecture, it is simple fact. The internet alone ensures we know more than we ever did about everything – and there's nothing wrong with that. So there is a "movement" they say to run for elected office and get away from incumbents getting a free ride. That seems strange to those of us who have lived here for more than 20 years, because prior to 1990, there were always multiple candidates for every office locally – in some cases, more than a dozen.

The Democratic Party, while strong here in Somerville, is hurting from the debacle that was the Coakley/Brown fight for the open Senate seat – and for many reasons. Reasons we might all want to look at down the road, when it doesn't hurt so much. For now, we hope and pray that Scott Brown will do a good job and be a moderate conservative at the very least.

Pundits and local politicos will give you a number of reasons why there is a "movement" afoot. Some opportunists would be quick to say that Scott Brown being elected to the Senate started it. Others might say that there is still a ground swell against anything remotely Bush/Cheney. Even more might say that President Obama hasn't lived up to expectations.

Whatever the reason, the fact is that people will be running for office this coming year – against State Reps and Senators and running for statewide office. They will do what they can to use the double-edged sword that is the internet age against you, me, us – you get the idea. The fact is, that while we are more informed as a society than we have ever been in history, it is also fact that we cannot absorb and retain every piece of information thrown at us.

So we will have a lot of "in your face" unadulterated political rhetoric used to scare us – and we will buy it, for the most part, because it is easier to believe the negative than it is to grasp the complicated explanations and reasoning behind the problems that plague us as a community, a nation, a world. The best we can do is ask questions, stand up for what we believe, try to listen to both sides of issues and utilize personal responsibility for our actions. And then fight for what you believe – pull nomination papers, hold a sign for someone, make phone calls – and get back to the bare knuckle politics that we have gotten away from. Congressman Mike Capuano said that the other night at the Democratic City Committee meeting and he was right. Get involved.