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Time to call your Congressmen. I live in a purple district, and I'm going to make it clear to my Republican representative that: 1) I'm going to vote in Novem
by Lionsion 8y ago
Time to call your Congressmen. I live in a purple district, and I'm going to make it clear to my Republican representative that:
1) I'm going to vote in November,
2) I will vote for him if he votes to keep the pre-existing title II net neutrality regulations, and against them if he does not, and
3) Net neutrality is even supported by a majority of Republican voters [1], so if he votes against it's clear he's voting against his constituents.
[1] http://www.publicconsultation.org/united-states/overwhelming-bipartisan-majority-opposes-repealing-net-neutrality/ http://www.publicconsultation.org/united-states/overwhelming...
- mattnewton 8y agoThis is, after all why they are doing it at all- you should 100% call your representative, not at all because the house will pass it or because Trump is going to sign this into law, but because you are validating that this should be part of the 2018 midterm election platforms to your representative. This is an issue that will get people out to the polls. Let’s prove it to them!
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- psychometry 8y agoSo you're a single-issue voter, basically? How do you feel about all of the other things the GOP has been doing to this country?
- hypothete 8y agoJust because the parent claims to be a single-issue voter on the phone doesn't mean that that's true.
- hueving 8y agoSingle issue voter or multiple issue voter, holding someone responsible for the actions of an entire political party is shockingly stupid.
- frockington 8y agoNot the poster but I'm normally a single issue voter and am registered just to vote no for 90% of the things the city wants to do. From a macro-perspective, in the last two years I've seen my taxes go down and unemployment drop. That's all that has personally affected me and I can say that the economic optimism in my city has sky rocket. Overall I'm pretty happy with how things are going.
- fjsolwmv 8y agoWorking more is important than living well?
- frockington 8y agoI've never been unemployed but I imagine it would be boring. I enjoy going to work and having new problems to face everyday so for me yes, low unemployment is good. And I've noticed there are less bums when unemployment is low, which is great for me because I don't like homeless people
- jacquesm 8y agoThere are a lot of issues on the front burner right now that would fall in that bracket and net neutrality isn't the most pressing one by a very long shot so why would you let your vote hinge on that one issue?
- Lionsion 8y ago> so why would you let your vote hinge on that one issue? Single issue voters make policy, and this is a case where the small weight of my vote could tip a scale and actually accomplish something. Plus, I hate our current state of extreme polarization, and I value politicians who have the independence to go against their party. If he'll do that, it's another aspect I'd like to reward.
- jacquesm 8y agoOk, I see. So this is the local equivalent for voting for a small party in a country with many more parties in the running for a coalition. That makes some sense, but at the same time it would mean that you are also voting for a lot of stuff that is reprehensible and probably against your own interest. Because once the votes are counted your vote will not be counted as a 'single issue' vote but as a total mandate for whatever that party is up to, they'll see their compromise on an issue that probably hardly moves the needle on their end as a clever tactic to get votes like yours.
- timdavila 8y agoSo your solution is what, not vote? Everyone in America faces this dilemma, it's the problem with our two party system.
- aaronbrethorst 8y agoGet involved in grassroots politics. Support municipal or state-level candidates who have potential to be federal candidates down the road. Doorknock for candidates who you feel represent you. Tell your friends and family who you're voting for and why. Vote in primaries. Always vote in general elections.
- ComputerGuru 8y agoI'm presuming purple (being red + blue) means a district that could either way? Lucky you. Here we don't have elections that matter because thanks to redistricting and gerrymandering, the outcome (along party lines) is well established.
- philjohn 8y agoNot quite true. If there is a wave election in November, gerrymandering backfires and ends up losing you more seats than you hope to gain through it. You pack the districts so that you win with 55% to 45%, except for a district here or there which will go 10% to 90%. In a wave election, it only takes a shift of 5-6% in those gerrymandered districts for them to be lost.
- stonogo 8y agoYou are pretending that a 'wave election' is a thing that people decide to do, instead of a label applied after the fact as a descriptive aid after the occurrence of the circumstances you describe. In other words, this is circular logic. In practice, heavily-gerrymandered districts rarely swing parties, and when they do, they almost always swing back.
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- dragonwriter 8y agoYou are pretending that there aren't circumstances that have an observed relation to systematic deviations from median election results that people can observe to understand that a wave election is more likely to happen in a particular election.
- stonogo 8y agoI'm not pretending it: I'm asserting it.
- atomi 8y agoThis won't get a House vote in a Republican controlled House. But the senate vote gives you an indication on where the Republican party stands. They're not going to change their minds.
- komali2 8y agoFor everyone's amusement, can you let us know what he says? When I lived in Texas, the responses I got from my representatives were comically evil. Straight up bond villain.
- poulsbohemian 8y agoThat sounds exactly like what I got from Cathy mcmorris Rodgers in eastern Washington as well
- chocolatebunny 8y agoI wonder if there's a "Letter's from my Congressman" website where random people post letters they got from their congressman.
- hasahmed 8y agoTime to make it happen
- scottmf 8y agoWe’re on Hacker “I could make Airbnb in a weekend” News. Why doesn’t it exist yet?
- fanalin 8y agoWe have something like this in Germany. It's called Abgeordnetenwatch (www.abgeordnetenwatch.de - Agbeordneter is, in this context, a member of the German parliament). You can find out who your local representatives are and ask them questions, which are hopefully publicly answered.
- MalibuNinja 8y agoThere has got to be a reddit sub for this, right?
- codedokode 8y agoSo bots can post fake letters there.
- eToThePiIPower 8y agoI also live in a purple district (in a very blue state), and while my Republican Congressman has made it clear he's against Net Neutrality, he voted against the repeal of the Internet privacy regulations, so he can't be counted out entirely. However, I'm still not all too sure whether Net Neutrality is worth promising support to existing Republicans. There are so many other issues on the table this election cycle and they next Congress is likely to be as, or more, supportive on this.
- JumpCrisscross 8y agoI find it useful, in politics, to keep a list of issues in respect of which I would, singularly, disregard party affiliation for. (The same with a black list. I won’t vote for a candidate on the wrong side of certain issues.) Putting it on paper is valuable. It clarifies your thoughts. And it makes it clear how draconian these red lines are. (I constantly re-evaluate them, with the goal of talking myself out of them.)
- smsm42 8y agoWhat do you do if none of the candidates qualifies after applying white and black lists? Or, if the candidate both promises something on the while list and on the black list? Not a theoretical question, I don't have the right to vote in US, but if I did, I'd be in this situation for the most elections in the most places where I cared reading about candidates.
- baq 8y agoYou tell others to make a list. Enough people make such a list, change happens.
- smsm42 8y agoProvided their lists are similar. Otherwise you just get Brownian motion.
- ensignavenger 8y ago
- djur 8y agoAll 49 Democratic Senators voted in favor of net neutrality. Why not vote for the Democrat?
- creaghpatr 8y agoBecause they knew the vote would have no impact. Had there been real stakes you would see defectors in the re-election swing states.
- smsm42 8y agoWould you genuinely choose your vote on this single issue, ignoring all others, whatever may they be? And if, like many of the voters, it is not true, would it be counter-productive to lie about it as Congressmen are probably been around the block a few times and can recognize the deception? Of course, if this is true, then I do not question it, but is it?
- agrenader 8y agoWhy are you trying to push your beliefs on whole country? Why not work on changing net neutrality laws in your state. This way in long run we'd have experiment comparing results in states with net neutrality laws (including different flavors) and without them.