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I believe that the staffers of many elected representatives typically count the number of constituents who were agitated enough even to send a form letter. Thi

I believe that the staffers of many elected representatives typically count the number of constituents who were agitated enough even to send a form letter. Think of it like a poll. Would you make the claim that politicians are willing to write off people who respond to polls just because they all answer the same question or the question isn't somehow the "right" one? Probably not. Of course, it's not a poll because people self-select. But even still, if the report to the representative says "this week, we had 37 letters about gun control and 43,742 about surveillance", well, it's clear what the politician wants to say that he or she is doing something about when he or she next sees a reporter.

Aloisius 13y ago
Yet a phone call that takes a staffer's actual time probably is 1000x more effective than a form email that are easily ignored because it requires so little effort to actually generate. If the most you can be bothered with is typing in your name and hitting send, why would any Congress member even believe you'll bother to vote in the next election? Or donate? Or convince other people to vote for their opponent?
- cboppert 13y ago
  If you can be bothered to type your name in and hitting send, why would any congress member doubt you'll vote in the next election? It's clear you're paying attention to at least something, you're voicing concern with over 100,000 other individuals. You can also customize the e-mails if you're so inclined. Despite that, if you receive 20,000 e-mails from constituents in your districts, perhaps you'll perk up to that. And if you think phone calls are a good idea, why not create a simple website making it easy for people to find the numbers they need and promote it to the stop watching us people (ask if they'll promote you if you promote them to achieve the same goal). It's truly a good idea. Phone calls stopped SOPA most likely. And a huge internet black out.

Aloisius 13y ago

Yet a phone call that takes a staffer's actual time probably is 1000x more effective than a form email that are easily ignored because it requires so little effort to actually generate. If the most you can be bothered with is typing in your name and hitting send, why would any Congress member even believe you'll bother to vote in the next election? Or donate? Or convince other people to vote for their opponent?

cboppert 13y ago
If you can be bothered to type your name in and hitting send, why would any congress member doubt you'll vote in the next election? It's clear you're paying attention to at least something, you're voicing concern with over 100,000 other individuals. You can also customize the e-mails if you're so inclined. Despite that, if you receive 20,000 e-mails from constituents in your districts, perhaps you'll perk up to that. And if you think phone calls are a good idea, why not create a simple website making it easy for people to find the numbers they need and promote it to the stop watching us people (ask if they'll promote you if you promote them to achieve the same goal). It's truly a good idea. Phone calls stopped SOPA most likely. And a huge internet black out.