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Their responses are often unrelated, or antithetical to my stated position. I think they have an inaccurate classifier.

• JohnFen 8y ago
  You should know how these things work. When you contact your representative with an opinion, they just add one to their tally of how many voters expressed the same opinion. The totals for how many voters expressed which opinions are what carries the most sway with them. Whether or not those tallies are in alignment with the general public is not relevant. So, when you contact them, you'll get a canned response telling you what their current stance is, regardless of whether that's the same as yours. But make no mistake, your opinion was added to the count. This sort of thing is why phone banks and contact-your-representative campaigns are so common. In bulk, they're effective and can change policy even in ways that most of their constituents don't agree with. They're only looking at the numbers of contacts they've received.
  • rexpop 8y ago
    You have just described my experience to me. > Whether or not those tallies are in alignment with the general public is not relevant. Is this not grossly pathological?
    • JohnFen 8y ago
      I am not claiming this is the way it should work, only that this is the way it does work. The silver lining in that cloud is that it means that expressing your opinion to your representative is something that really does make a difference. On a practical level, if you don't tell them, they won't know.