Comments on: What does writing your Congressman accomplish?

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 01:27:33 +0000

Oh yeah, one other thing. Some Congressmen will answer anything that comes through their office. Others will ignore folks who come across as belligerent and unwilling to consider others opinions. In those cases, the replies are usually just received to be replied to by the original writer, without any thought or reasonableness. According to Ohio State University, extremists will twist any information, no matter how negative it is to their beliefs to somehow support their beliefs. In such a case, it just adds fuel to fire rather than create any meaningful dialogue. A good letter to your Congressman is short, to the point and polite. It demonstrates knowledge on the subject but isn’t preaching, showy or long. Emotion only works when talking about the impact on a sick relative or something, not to be hateful or vitriolic. Think about it.

By: Marie

Marie — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 01:15:22 +0000

You’re stupid if you think your letter is going to make you king of the world. The point of your letter is to let your congressperson know what people and their district think. If enough people write that they feel the same way, the congressman will move towards that goal. They want to get re-elected. One person and one letter can make a difference and probably will make a difference, but most likely it’ll be small. Wouldn’t it be better to have something extremely detrimental changed so that the most damaging impact is ameliorated? It may just be enough to stop your rep from co-sponsoring a bill. It may help his office see how a bill directly impacts his community. It could influence someone to put forth an amendment that changes to strength of a bill. It could be that the language in your letter is quoted. It could be that the staffers talk about your write and it changes the dialogue about the issue in the office. The staff has great influence on the rep.

As for Hillary Clinton answering your letter; don’t you think she may have had about 50 times the mail as your average Senator. She’s Hillary Clinton for GXD’s sake. That’s why NY elected her.

By: Nanette

Nanette — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:24:53 +0000

I often “pick up the phone” instead of relying on my snail or email. Rarely, do I get to talk to my Senator/Representative. I recall, when I had my own op/ed (local) column, it was much easier to get their attention and replies (phone and letters). I will say that Obama did impress me as my senator with replies that made sense (form or not, most weren’t form) and addressed the right problem. Shimkus never makes an effort to know what I was addressing (or whom somedays).

By: Michael Hampton

Michael Hampton — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:20:20 +0000

Mark, thank you for sharing your concern about the volume of mail received at the U.S. Senate. I’ll be sure to keep your views in mind.

By: Mark

Mark — Wed, 16 May 2007 18:08:13 +0000

Take a second and think about what you’re saying. The average Senator receives approximately 2,000 letters, emails and faxes a day from constituents. It is absurd to think that a Senator would be able to respond personally to all or even any of your correspondences. He would have to respond thoughtfully to 285 people a seven days a week. Even if he devoted every second of every day solely to responding to you he still wouldn’t be able to answer everyone. Most would assume his time would be better spent speaking with business, union and group leaders in order to learn how to best serve his state. For that reason they have staffers working full time whose sole job is to respond to constituents. Typically there are five such staffers in a Senator’s office. These men and women each take on about 400 of the correspondences a week. Since almost all of these messages are dealing with the same topics the only practical way of responding is with form letters. Even so it is virtually impossible to get these responses out earlier then a few weeks after receiving them. Those are the facts. If you would like to hear an immediate and personally tailored response to your concerns then pick up the phone and make a phone call.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:50:42 +0000

By: Petition For Boot Camp Reparations - Page 4 - Volconvo Debate Forums

Petition For Boot Camp Reparations - Page 4 - Volconvo Debate Forums — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 16:59:47 +0000

[...] Dilli, a link to an article on this issue. What does writing your Congressman accomplish? – Homeland Stupidity Quote: [...]

By: Max

Max — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 08:43:11 +0000

at least in canada they actually take the time to read these bills before them come law..

By: “I’m listening, I swear!” - Homeland Stupidity

“I’m listening, I swear!” - Homeland Stupidity — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 18:06:22 +0000

[...] Yesterday, as you’ll recall, I took Sen. Feingold’s office to task for sending out a corrupt PDF file attachment to one such form letter response, for occasionally using outdated and irrelevant form letters, and for being rather slow to respond. [...]

By: Tommy Jefferson

Tommy Jefferson — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 15:12:23 +0000

The solution is for us to band together into our own lobby groups. I help with immigration reform by send faxes and letter when directed by my favorite immigration reform lobby group. It does have an effect, IF you can generate big numbers.