Any one of these people can cancel your vote.

The letters to the editor page in the local newspaper is the ultimate level of democracy in the mainstream media. Television news rarely gives its viewers a chance to "talk back," except in incredibly unscientific polls done by text messaging or internet forums. Radio, likewise, does not have much room for listener input, except in those types of shows where the caller either repeats back the points the host just made, or is screamed at in increasingly shrill tones to "get off [the host's] phone!"

I myself am an infrequent writer to the LTE page, averaging just about one letter a year printed in my hometown's paper, the Topeka Capital-Journal. My letters tend to be angry but coherent.

Often, however, the writers miss that latter point. Or they are coherent in a way that makes you wish they weren't. This blog is for those letters, so all may remember:

This person's vote is worth the same as yours. And you know they use it.

If you see something worth printing here in your local paper, send it to clteblog@gmail.com