Political activists get very excited about “grassroots.” One heard a great deal in the last election about the Republican and Democratic grassroots activities in turning out the vote, so it’s easy to assume that grassroots efforts are limited to encouraging people to vote.
 
But that’s not so. Grassroots activities are nothing less than direct citizen involvement in and interaction with their elected representatives—it’s what participatory democracy is all about. We the citizens use our communications and interactions with our elected officials to voice our support for, or against, their positions on legislation affecting our companies’ bottom lines ...