There's a jillion ways to be involved without ever leaving one's home. Seemingly every elected official in Utah has a telephone and e-mail address. Most, if not all, governmental bodies have their agendas available online. Some meetings are broadcast on cable and Web casts. Engagement is but a mouse click away.

But who wants to watch the Podunk City Council meeting on cable when they can be watching "Fear Factor" or some equally inane television programming? Who wants to give up an occasional Tuesday night to attend a school board meeting because being an active participant in government — when your ox isn't being gored — is important, too? Then, when the issue affects your home or your school or your child, you're not reinventing the wheel. You will grasp how government works (and how it doesn't) so you know how to do the dance when the time arrives.

At the end of the day, voters have the ultimate accountability device. They can throw out the rascals on election day. But this supposes that the people who are normally disengaged make the effort to show up to the polls.

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Marjorie Cortez is Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail her at marjorie@desnews.com