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2017-01-29

How to influence your elected representatives if you are a US citizen

So you want to create political change in the US? Read the following.





Advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator:

There are two things that everyone concerned should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things.

You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing.

1. The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time - if they have town halls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website). When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those the better.

2. But, those in-person events don't happen every day. So, the absolute most important thing that people should be doing every day is calling. You should make six calls a day: two each (DC office and your local office) to your two Senators & your one Representative.

Any sort of online contact basically gets immediately ignored, and letters pretty much get thrown in the trash (unless you have a particularly strong emotional story - but even then it's not worth the time it took you to craft that letter).

Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the Senior Staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue-voters pay attention to (like gun control, or planned parenthood funding, etc...), it's often closer to 11-1, and that's recently pushed Democratic congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't.


So, when you call:

A) When calling the DC office, ask for the Staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about ("Hi, I'd like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please") - local offices won't always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, awesome. If you don't, that's ok - ask for their name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. Don't leave a message (unless the office doesn't pick up at all - then you can...but it's better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic).

B) Give them your zip code. They won't always ask for it, but make sure you give it to them, so they can mark it down. Extra points if you live in a zip code that traditionally votes for them, since they'll want to make sure they get/keep your vote.

C) If you can make it personal, make it personal. "I voted for you in the last election and I'm worried/happy/whatever" or "I'm a teacher, and I am appalled by" or "as a single mother" or "as a white, middle class woman," or whatever.

D) Pick one or two specific things per day to focus on. Don't go down a whole list - they're figuring out what one or two topics to mark you down for on their lists. So, focus on one or two per day. Ideally something that will be voted on/taken up in the next few days, but it doesn't really matter - even if there's not a vote coming up in the next week, call anyway. It's important that they just keep getting calls.

E) Be clear on what you want - "I'm disappointed that the Senator..." or "I want to thank the Senator for their vote on..." or "I want the Senator to know that voting in _____ way is the wrong decision for our state because..." Don't leave any ambiguity.

F) They may get to know your voice/get sick of you - it doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every six weeks anyway, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone in six weeks. From experience since the election: If you hate being on the phone & feel awkward (which is a lot of people) don't worry about it - there are a bunch of scripts (Indivisible has some, there are lots of others floating around these day). After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural. Put the 6 numbers in your phone (all under P – Politician. An example is McCaskill MO, Politician McCaskill DC, Politician Blunt MO, etc...) which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

2017-01-21

Live-tweets by The Onion Politics during Trump's inauguration

The Onion's politics section live-tweeted during President Donald J. Trump's inauguration. Below are the tweets.



(cartoon by Mike Luckovich)


Follow @OnionPolitics now as the nation celebrates a peaceful transition into Ragnarök.

45,395th-largest-ever D.C. crowd gathers at Capitol.

Nation to celebrate peaceful transition of color.

Obama praying Xanax holds out for next 30 minutes.

Melania Trump once again asks military officer to run away with her.

Report: One way ticket to Paris only $480 right now.

Bill Clinton quietly asks Hillary why the fuck they at inauguration.

Report: This the most stairs Trump has ever had to walk down.

Report: Half of inauguration attendees to be ruined by cost of routine surgery.

Priest at inauguration really putting a lot of emphasis behind pleas for God's help.

Mike Pence saying private, more intense prayer.

Trump trying to look prayerish.

Biden turns up volume of Alice In Chains playing through earbuds.

Trump perks up notably at sight of blonde woman at podium.

Report: Muslim prayer next.

This actually a Missouri state university chorale cover band.

Alto in third row singing off-key in subtle protest.

Choir currently singing latin about endless torment of hell.

Eric Trump fondly recalls choir boy he used to torment.

Report: Please let next 4 years be this boring.

Report: This is 96% of inauguration audience's first time seeing jew in person.

Chilly man in audience wishes he'd worn thicker flag.

Crowd thought it'd never have to hear Democrat speak again.

Trump calms nerves before inaugural address by reminding himself he's the only person who actually exists.

Mormon choir somehow second-whitest choir at this inauguration.

Choir accidentally sworn in as 45th president.

Flag in front of Capitol building wishes it weren't waving so majestically.

Report: There still time for something to happen between now and end of oath.

Justice Roberts stops in middle of oath of office to remind audience this just his job.

Melania Trump quickly checks phone for flight check-in information.

Trump to nation: 'There are at least a dozen other places I'd rather be right now.'

'It is a tremendous honor to have every American serve me as their president,' claims grateful Trump.

Trump fact: He has vowed to avoid ethical entanglements through strict and transparent redefinition of the word "Ethical".

Trump accidentally tells nation nuclear codes.

Report: This less scary if you don't know any history.

Obama quietly thinking about how much better his inauguration speech was.

Inauguration fact: An inauguration of a president is the first step in the impeachment process.

Trump vows to eradicate face of earth.

Majority of crowd believes America competing in contest of some sort.

Trump supporter stabs brown man to double-check blood.

Trump: 'Please ignore the 200,000 women you see tomorrow.'

Trump already asleep.

Rabbi: 'Well that was a little scary, wasn't it?'

Crowd not sure what to do with hands, head during Jewish prayer.