5 ms·

I really don't understand this. Is the point so that I can tweet or mail letters to my elected officials? Is tweeting at officials supposed to help my station

I really don't understand this. Is the point so that I can tweet or mail letters to my elected officials? Is tweeting at officials supposed to help my station in life? Just seems ridiculous to me that tweeting would be taken seriously. I suppose it could be taken seriously but that would actually scare me more. I always believed that if you want to make a difference than vote with your wallet and I don't mean to donate money to politicians. I mean to make purchases from companies you respect.

xenity7 10y ago
Why is it ridiculous that tweeting would be taken seriously?Why would the form of communication matter? Elected representative "should" listen to their constituents by most definitions, and a tweet is just as valid a form of communication as any otherb- and hard to ignore because it is public.
- source99 10y ago
  How would an elected official know the tweet actually came from a constituent? How would they know a yell or a letter came from a constituent?
  - bluejekyll 10y ago
    A letter at least has a local USPS stamp on which postal office first received it.
clort 10y ago
> Just seems ridiculous to me that tweeting would be taken seriously. I would agree, though it seems that your president-elect would not..
afarrell 10y ago
If you have a problem like "the social security administration has been giving me the run-around and I can't get someone to actually look at my case", then your US Representative can in fact be super helpful. Unlike legislation, it is an opportunity for them to unambiguously help one of their constituents. Depending on the number of family/friends you tell about it, they can buy themselves 1-10 votes with probably just a phone call. Source: multiple anecdotes from acquaintances and threads on /r/legaladvice
- massysett 10y ago
  Legislators typically have staff for whom constituent service is a full-time job, so I figure they should help me.

xenity7 10y ago

Why is it ridiculous that tweeting would be taken seriously?Why would the form of communication matter? Elected representative "should" listen to their constituents by most definitions, and a tweet is just as valid a form of communication as any otherb- and hard to ignore because it is public.

source99 10y ago
How would an elected official know the tweet actually came from a constituent? How would they know a yell or a letter came from a constituent?
- bluejekyll 10y ago
  A letter at least has a local USPS stamp on which postal office first received it.

clort 10y ago

> Just seems ridiculous to me that tweeting would be taken seriously. I would agree, though it seems that your president-elect would not..

afarrell 10y ago

If you have a problem like "the social security administration has been giving me the run-around and I can't get someone to actually look at my case", then your US Representative can in fact be super helpful. Unlike legislation, it is an opportunity for them to unambiguously help one of their constituents. Depending on the number of family/friends you tell about it, they can buy themselves 1-10 votes with probably just a phone call. Source: multiple anecdotes from acquaintances and threads on /r/legaladvice

massysett 10y ago
Legislators typically have staff for whom constituent service is a full-time job, so I figure they should help me.