Pool our resources and talk back to power?

January 13, 2006 5:52 PM

Civics Experiment question: Reading this thread today, and noting some shared sense of "outrage fatigue" and feelings of powerlessness, it occurs to me that perhaps we could, collectively, try an experiment. Some here regularly assert that the most effective method of civic activism is write your senators and reps and tell them what you're thinking. I'm wondering about pooling the intellectual resources of interested MeFites to develop a boilerplate, concise letter that any interested MeFite could copy, sign, and send along to their appropriate elected officials in Washington, to express our outrage at this president, his administration, and our disbelief that nothing is being done about it. [MI]

So many posters in political threads make really salient, incisive points, with the facts/citations to back them up, that it seems it would be easy to develop such a letter, start a sending campaign, and see what response we get. (The letters would be from individuals only, not from the site itself, of course.)

If representatives truly don't hear much from their constituency, it would be interesting to see what kind of response this could generate. It certainly stands a chance of being more productive than yet another outraged bitch-fest on the blue. So, questions: is there interest in this? Where on the site could such a letter be developed? Might be fun....

posted by LooseFilter to Law & Government (11 answers total)

This has been done many times by many people. Look at any activist group, and they will offer some sort of letter that you only need to sign and send. Some you don't even need to send yourself. It -is- a good idea, but I don't think it would have the effect you hope.

Still, send letters away. If nothing else it makes your reps aware of an issue they may have previously pushed off to some poor staffer.
posted by Loto at 5:56 PM on January 13, 2006

If your question is whether there is interest in this or not, then my answer is no.
posted by Falconetti at 6:03 PM on January 13, 2006

I think a better idea would be to sponsor someone who has outrage fatigue, enabling them to do something about it.

For example, we could all donate to someone who will go to every public appearance of a politician who we collectively don't think is very good and ask them the pointed questions that put their hypocrisy in plain sight.
posted by DragonBoy at 6:06 PM on January 13, 2006

As one who has had the crappy task of responding to a vast quantity of that type of letter, let me be the first to say that such an exercise is an enormous waste of time and resources.

And DragonBoy - that would be a good idea, except that their hypocrisy is already in plain sight, so I'm not sure you'd accomplish anything new.

Want to change the political current so it flows in your direction? Then get everyone you know who agrees with your political agenda to be courteous, nice, articulate and respectful to those who disagree with you.

When you're in a system where the majority rules, the trick is to convince people to come over to your side. They'll only do that if they feel like they're really one of you, and they'll never feel like they're one of you if you're perceived as being a jerk to them or if you tell them they're stupid for having their political beliefs.
posted by JekPorkins at 6:17 PM on January 13, 2006

JekPorkins, was your experience in a political context? Writing/calling one's legislator is so often cited as a useful mode of engagement that I'd be surprised if sudden influx of such a thing on particular bills hasn't swayed votes in the past.
posted by Firas at 6:34 PM on January 13, 2006

I would suggest developing a wiki or website of some sort and posting it to the projects page.
posted by mr.dan at 7:00 PM on January 13, 2006

I like the theory, but when your Senators are Kerry and Kennedy, and your Congressman is Barney Frank, well, "preaching to the choir" comes to mind.
posted by jalexei at 7:01 PM on January 13, 2006

I have a friend who recently went to DC with a religious group (a Jewish youth group, specifically) to lobby their representatives, and she was very disheartened by what she saw. This was a national organization, very specifically lobbying against three different bills, I believe. Now, she was dealing with Texas (mostly batshitinsane) reps, but they generally had little luck getting to see their reps and getting any kind of a response. I don't really see how a bunch of letters will change anything, considering that I have reason to believe even showing up at rep's offices doesn't have an effect. It seems like letters can easily be foisted off on some poor staffer, where they are likely to sink under a morass of similar Letters From Concerned Citizens. It's a good thought, I think, but I also think it has roughly the chances of an internet petition as far as getting noticed. I know internet petitions have worked before, but this just doesn't seem likely to work.
posted by MadamM at 7:04 PM on January 13, 2006

I think a better idea would be to sponsor someone...

Yes, and these sponsored people are called "lobbyists."

This has been done many times by many people. Look at any activist group, and they will offer some sort of letter that you only need to sign and send. ... It -is- a good idea, but I don't think it would have the effect you hope.

True 'dat. But in keeping with the "Ask" part of "AskMeFi," this letter-writing campaign would be best if it were focused not on all senators and reps, but on significant reps, such as committee chairmen and such. The dirty secret of Congress is that while there are 400+ reps, only about 20 matter.
posted by frogan at 7:06 PM on January 13, 2006

Also, for what its worth, I know Oregon's state government will count form letters significantly lower than personal letters. They have tons of people watching public policy, and these people know when a bunch of people are taking the time to write them something, or when they're spending 20 seconds passing on something from someone else.
posted by devilsbrigade at 7:23 PM on January 13, 2006

Remember: A US Congressman or Senator spends a large part of thier working life fundraising.

Letters don't count anymore, unless they are, or threaten, dollars. Thanks to the Supreme Court, money is free speech, therefore, to get elected, you need to have lots of it. Politicians are ranked on how much money they have in their "war chests."

I used to write letters. I got lots of form letters back. Didn't change a thing -- worse, with my rep being, at the time, the House Minority Leader, he was more concered with his presidential ambitions than MO3rd.

Disclaimer: I've given up hope.
posted by eriko at 7:26 PM on January 13, 2006