With advances in technology and the flow of information the way it is today, politics does not have to be as time-consuming as it once was. It is really hard for the most people to have enough time to stay well informed unless they look in the right places. Here are some sites I have recently come across that are great tools for anyone wishing to be informed on what is going on in our government.
maplight.org - They connect money and politics. You can see political contributions and who is on either side of an issue. For example, S. 3217 - Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010 has received over $25 million in contributions from those who oppose it (almost $10 mil of that from banks).
govtrack.us - They track votes by politicians and organize the information. You can track certain politicians to see how they vote on issues or track a piece of legislation to see how it does through the various stages of the political process.
downsizedc.org - They are promoting Read the Bills Act which would prevent lengthy legislation that no one had a chance to read from being voted on.
These two below report news and are some alternatives to the often biased mass media.
www.cepr.net/ - Center for Economic and Policy Research.
www.prwatch.org/ - Center for Media and Democracy.