Or at least, as simple as politics itself can be.

First, Find Out Who Your Representatives Are

Quick!

Can you name your three representatives in Congress?

Heck, many Americansdont even know their representatives party.

They are the ones who were elected to represent you, specifically.

Ideally, youd know who these people are before theyre elected.

Hopefully, youd have either voted for or against them in the last election.

Everyones gotta start somewhere, though.

select one of them and youll be taken to a profile page.

Along the top of the profile, youll see a box with a ton of links.

The real meat, however, is in the activity feed.

There are a variety of approval ratings all over the place as well.

This is where the rubber meets the political road.

Its also the hardest part to deal with because, as it turns out, laws are complicated.

The bill page is highly informative, but it can be confusing if youre not used to reading legalese.

If youve ever thought that governing is easy, this process will probably humble you.

First, I checked outthe controversial CISA law.

However, the timeline on 4USXUS said nothing happened with it since it passed the Senate in October 2015.

But I know from the news that CISA waslater attached to an omnibus spending billand passed in December.

It was impossible to know that from just this page.

It only got harder when I started browsing other bills.

For example,the FAST Actseemed like a basic highway infrastructure bill.

Are they good, or is some unrelated bad thing I should be concerned with?

Am I even qualified to answer this?

Much of the problem here is due to the complicated nature of politics in general.

A bill with an unrelated rider doesnt tell you in its summary if its shady or not.

Theres no notification process to let you know when a failed bill attaches itself to a larger one.

Laws in general are designed to be read by lawyers, not the layman.

You just cant expect everyone to be able to make rational, wise decisions on everything.

However, its also important that everyone beableto find out whats going on in their government.

From that perspective, 4USXUS is a perfect starting point.