Potomac Fever

I have been afflicted with the "Potomac Fever"- the desire by an individual to return back to Washington DC, where I have worked the past two summers. Frankly, how could I not want to return? Washington DC is an incredibly unique city in many ways. The history of our young nation is scattered throughout the city in picturesque memorials, VIPs can be seen casually walking down the street, and there is a very peculiar atmosphere of a passive importance. However, I had an opportunity to explore the government in a way that not many people my age are able.

My first job on the Hill was working for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney; this job was made all the more interesting because the week before the Congresswoman had gotten into a widely publicized scuffle with a member of the capital police. I was told that according to the news, she had become frustrated with the policeman because he asked for ID. In a meeting with her interns, Ms. McKinney explained that though people were focusing on this one event, she had been harassed by the capital police many times in the past, and this event was the boiling point for these kinds of confrontations. This was my first lesson in politics and Capital Hill: there are many sides to a story, and the most arousing perspective of the story is the one most often told.

To see two very different portrayals of Ms. McKinney look at http://static.flickr.com/73/193304042_282dcaa4af_o.jpg and http://www.tonyrogers.com/humor/images/cynthia_mckinney.jpg (accessed April 12th, 2008).

My second job was with the Office of the State of Nevada, a branch of the Nevada executive arm of the government under Governor Jim Gibbons. Our job was to collaborate with Nevada's members of Congress as well as other state offices ( we found ourselves working most often with North Carolina and California) in order to lobby for specific bills that were under scrutiny by Congress. One of the hot topics of debate at the time was the FY 2007 budget, which had shattered records in terms of the amount of money tucked away into different earmarks (pork), causing Republicans to filibuster the bill. I also found myself writing letters to various congressmen and women (most often Harry Reid D-NV and Senator John Warner R-VA). I attended hearings on different issues, including the affect of the Clean Water Act on Midwestern farmers, with the Governor of Montana (or as my co-worker often called it, "Montucky").

Though I did many things in my second job such as write letters, explore capital hill, and get yelled at by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) for being too close to the members-only elevator, I think my best experience was being able to write a speech for Governor Gibbons for an education conference. I gave being a politician a try for a day, and co-produced a speech that was delivered without any edits from the governor's speechwriter.

In the end, I have loved and learned from my experiences on Capital Hill. With my affliction of the Potomac Fever, I can only hope to return at some point and do my own little part to help our great mechanism of democracy operate as well as it can.

Thank you for reading.