9 ms·

Preaching to the choir. I'm trying, and failing, to make the point that policy work is real work, and that if you want to make a dent, I encourage you to learn

Preaching to the choir. I'm trying, and failing, to make the point that policy work is real work, and that if you want to make a dent, I encourage you to learn how the professionals get it done. But you don't need all that to get started. Just call your rep, at any level, and get on their calendar. You'll have 5 minutes to make a pitch. You'll probably meet with a legislative aide. Bring some position papers. Weigh in on current (or recent legislation). If there's an upcoming vote, specifically request they vote Yay or Nay (per your position). Then followup with a thank you note. Then do it again.

r3trohack3r 6y ago
Sorry I misunderstood you... I appreciate that it is real work, and I hope I don't come across as making light of that. I've spent a lot of time the past few weeks grappling with imposter syndrome while trying to set this up and constantly questioning whether I would be a net positive in this space. I hope I will. Part of shipping was to try to cultivate the relationships to do that learning and bring in resources to fund folks to do that learning, and work, full time. If you have resources that could help me ramp up, I would really appreciate them, and could use mentorship if you know of anyone. On nights and weekends, I've been sitting through days of senate hearing recordings and reading hundreds of pages of court documents over the past few weeks. I do feel that is helping, but there are definitely "meta" parts of this field I'm missing (like legal research). I also feel policy work is different than influencing elections. Part of what we benefit from, as voters, is having representatives handle some of this policy work. When you listen to the first Senate Intelligence Committee hearing after the 2013 leaks, it's clear they are out of touch with who they are representing. When it comes to the Presidential Surveillance Program, that committee knew about it and oversaw it. They were actively involved in keeping evidence out of the courts, preventing citizens doing the policy work necessary to hold them accountable. I don't fully understand how professionals do this, but I do get the feeling these senators had a non-negligible impact on making that surveillance program a reality. Only one senator put truth to power during that hearing, everyone else defended the program and focused on "restricting access" to the database and improving reporting. Many of those senators are still sitting in their seats. An underlying goal of this project is to rally the voting population against the current representatives. I want to understand and be involved in the policy to apply that pressure correctly, but at the end of the day I want our representatives to be driving that policy change. We apply pressure to them, through a downward pressure during their election cycle, to guide them towards doing right by their citizens.
- specialist 6y ago
  Everyone's faking it. Believe me. Except maybe the judges. Strongly agree that policy work has been separate from campaigning. I've been out of the game, so don't know the current landscape. What's always true is the game continues to change. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Law makers, by necessity, lean on their staff and lobbyists (both the good and bad kind) to navigate policy choices. Any given law maker has a handful of issues that they really care about, for which they are willing to spend political capital. Everything else is in response to public debate. -- I collect books about policy and law making. So much free advice! A really good starting point is Rep. Henry Waxman's The Waxman Report. It'll give you a taste of one person's experience.

r3trohack3r 6y ago

Sorry I misunderstood you... I appreciate that it is real work, and I hope I don't come across as making light of that. I've spent a lot of time the past few weeks grappling with imposter syndrome while trying to set this up and constantly questioning whether I would be a net positive in this space. I hope I will. Part of shipping was to try to cultivate the relationships to do that learning and bring in resources to fund folks to do that learning, and work, full time. If you have resources that could help me ramp up, I would really appreciate them, and could use mentorship if you know of anyone. On nights and weekends, I've been sitting through days of senate hearing recordings and reading hundreds of pages of court documents over the past few weeks. I do feel that is helping, but there are definitely "meta" parts of this field I'm missing (like legal research). I also feel policy work is different than influencing elections. Part of what we benefit from, as voters, is having representatives handle some of this policy work. When you listen to the first Senate Intelligence Committee hearing after the 2013 leaks, it's clear they are out of touch with who they are representing. When it comes to the Presidential Surveillance Program, that committee knew about it and oversaw it. They were actively involved in keeping evidence out of the courts, preventing citizens doing the policy work necessary to hold them accountable. I don't fully understand how professionals do this, but I do get the feeling these senators had a non-negligible impact on making that surveillance program a reality. Only one senator put truth to power during that hearing, everyone else defended the program and focused on "restricting access" to the database and improving reporting. Many of those senators are still sitting in their seats. An underlying goal of this project is to rally the voting population against the current representatives. I want to understand and be involved in the policy to apply that pressure correctly, but at the end of the day I want our representatives to be driving that policy change. We apply pressure to them, through a downward pressure during their election cycle, to guide them towards doing right by their citizens.

specialist 6y ago
Everyone's faking it. Believe me. Except maybe the judges. Strongly agree that policy work has been separate from campaigning. I've been out of the game, so don't know the current landscape. What's always true is the game continues to change. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Law makers, by necessity, lean on their staff and lobbyists (both the good and bad kind) to navigate policy choices. Any given law maker has a handful of issues that they really care about, for which they are willing to spend political capital. Everything else is in response to public debate. -- I collect books about policy and law making. So much free advice! A really good starting point is Rep. Henry Waxman's The Waxman Report. It'll give you a taste of one person's experience.