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tl;dr 1. Make sure you’re registered to vote — lawmakers check. 2. Lawmakers don’t care about people outside of their district. 3. Your signature — physical
by dano 10y ago
tl;dr
1. Make sure you’re registered to vote — lawmakers check.
2. Lawmakers don’t care about people outside of their district.
3. Your signature — physical or electronic — on a mass petition will mean little.
4. The communication must be individual. Email, Letter, Phone call.
5. Know where your representative stands.
6. Communicate — even if you and your representative disagree.
7. Say “thank you" - to reinforce the behavior you want
8. Enlist the help of friends in other districts. - they write their own reps
- mercer 10y ago> 4. The communication must be individual. Email, Letter, Phone call. I've heard that calling is highly preferable to emails at least (and perhaps letters), because they have to answer calls but can do with automatic replies to emails (and relegate your message to 'cylindrical storage'). Can anyone confirm/deny that?
- tptacek 10y agoMy understanding, from a couple of different D staffers, one of which is "firsthand" (if Facebook threads count), is that email does not count even a little bit. I also don't believe voicemail counts, or if it does, it doesn't count consistently. The basic atom of political influence seems to be the live human phone call; anything less obnoxious is ignored.
- trendia 10y agoStrangely, he forgot to mention: 9. Donate lots of money. A study found members of Congress are way more likely to meet with you if you've paid them [0]. > "The offices who just thought they were being asked to meet with normal constituents, we almost never got a meeting with a member of Congress, or a chief of staff or a legislative director — the most powerful people in congressional offices," says Broockman. "On the other hand, when we reveal that the attendees were donors, they were more than three times as likely to get those meetings." [0] http://www.npr.org/2014/03/26/294361018/how-to-meet-your-congressman http://www.npr.org/2014/03/26/294361018/how-to-meet-your-con...
- wheelerwj 10y agoits really surprising that he forgot that because he nailed the other main ways to force change: Be thankful and only talk to people who represent you (no one).