[Cliffie]

I'm just wondering how many people actually write their elected officials. I write on a regular basis to let them know how I think they're doing and what proposals and bills I want them to vote for, if they want to keep MY vote.

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT WRITING TO THE HOLDERS OF PUBLIC OFFICE:

So few people do it that politicians assume that your opinion represents the thoughts of 100 people in their constituency. This means a great deal to someone whose job is on the line if they don't please the public. That means your letter or e-mail has a ton of clout.

It has much MORE clout if you reinforce the things you like about your politician's votes and other actions, while making positive suggestions about what you'd like to see them do next. Just telling them everything they're doing is wrong is not going to make them very open to your views. Honey? Vinegar? Etc?

Writing to someone "closer to the ground" gets you a much faster and more specific response. I got a personal call from the Attorney General's Office a few years back asking for details of an issue I'd written them about. I gave the guy an earful, and sure enough, a truly sickening court decision I'd read about in the papers was eventually reversed, due in large part to people like me who fought the decision tooth and nail. There was only a handful of us, but we got three murderers put away when they were originally only going to get probation, snatching victory from the teeth of the judge's insane ruling.

Writing to ALL of your elected officials has the biggest impact of all. Five letters from you means, in their minds, that 500 people feel this way about whatever the issue is. "Holy mackerel, Mayor Smedley, we need to move on this issue! The letters are pouring in!"

To add to your immense personal power in changing the system -- and it is immense -- do the craziest thing of all: back up your letters with your VOTE. If every eligible voter in the nation had put their faces in the place on Election Day when Bore ran against Goosh, I mean when Gore ran against Bush, we would alreday know who the people really wanted in the Oval Office. As it is we are still debating the question. In a country where everyone votes, we do not get hung up on dumb, unanswerable questions about hanging chads.

OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Any thoughts?

[joedekock]

I write to my state and federal officials when a big issue arises. For example:

A couple of years ago, a bill was brought up in the house in Lansing which would allow a person to defend himself with deadly force (a.k.a. a gun) if they felt threatened in anyway. The laws before stated that you had to retreat if threatened first, and only if you were "trapped" could you use deadly force, only if your life itself was in jeapordy. So you literally had to run from someone who broke into your house and had a gun... you could not shoot back at them in your own home.

I have a concealed weapons permit, and this law was very sincere to me for protection of myself and my family, because it also took this new proposal into the public realm. So you could literally be eating your lunch in Burger King, and if someone came in an pointed a gun in your face, if you are a concealed weapons permit holder, and had your gun with you, you could shoot to kill, and the law would protect you.

I have written state officials on the taxes for sure. Granholm never writes me back. Probably because I have written her letters before when she would openly bash the Bush administration in the presidential elections. I wrote her to simply say as an elected state official, she has no business supporting a presidential candidate publicly, let alone bashing one with false accusations publicly.

[Frankawitz]

I write my State and Federal Reps, and they write me back with what I don't want to hear from them, But what's new, they do as they want, they don't give a rat's azz what the people think. I got letters from Accvitti and Swatalski and they both told me that the Tax Increases was the best move for Michigan. I asked why they didn't take a Pay Cut well they went around that issue like it was a fire, Run Away, Run Away. But when it came to the Taxes they voted for they had all kinds of good things to say about the increases. Of course they would say that. So I feel it is a waste of time with a lot of these people cause they don't care about the every day guys and gals out there working their butts off to make ends meet.

[UpperPeninsulaRon]

[quote=Cliffie;1703321]I'm just wondering how many people actually write their elected officials. I write on a regular basis to let them know how I think they're doing and what proposals and bills I want them to vote for, if they want to keep MY vote.

I have written, and continue to write, to my elected officials. I also call them on a regular basis. I do not know about other's experiences, but here is what I have found:
- If I write on an issue that they happen to support, I get a form letter (computer adressed to me) describing their position. When a friend wrote with an opposite viewpoint, the same "position paper" letter was sent to them. Do they really evaluate these letters, or do staffers simply send out position papers?
- I wrote everyone (Governor, Senators, State Representatives, etc.) asking for help with a personal issue where I felt I was treated very unfairly on a life altering issue, not one of my letters was responded to, nor did I get any phone calls. It was clearly a "hot potato" situation that no one dared to get involved with - too uncomfortable for them.
So I continue to write, but I just do not really believe that they listen.

[Frankawitz]

Ron
I hear you, I have writen to the Governor about her so called PLAN and when was it going to go into play, I got a e mail from a staffer saying they appericate my letter. never did answer my question and still hasn't to this day. Typical of People in Office. Brain Dead.

[Cliffie]

People, don't underestimate the power of merely LETTING THEM KNOW YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION. Their jobs, and the jobs of their protegees, mentors, network buddies and political allies depend on YOU. Why nobody in this country seems to understand or believe that is beyond me. We live in a powerful democracy, but most people talk as if this were still the Hapsburg Dynasty or something.

Just because they don't call or write and discuss the issue with you doesn't mean they didn't get your letter or didn't read it. You can only expect that level of response from your relatives, not from elected officials -- and as you know some of the relatives don't respond, either. If you just think Granholm, she is mopping up the state's financial Katrina with nothing but a whisk broom and a Swiffer, and she hasn't got time to contact every constituent who contacts her. She must be getting LOTS of complaints lately. She has several MILLION constituents.