I love threads like this. I find so many interesting people to block
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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"We should call our representatives"
"na na why should I bother? This requires effort and I have to figure out what to say. And anyway my cynicism dictates that it doesn't matter. na na blah blah"
"How do you know, you've never tried"
"I just know blah blah they don't care blah blah"
"Well, you've definitely proved that not calling produces no results"
They don't have to take away your power if you stop yourself from using it first. Don't willingly give up your voice.
Unless you're wealthy enough to own two or three senators they don't give a flying fuck what any of us have to say.
God, the doomerism in the comments here fucking sucks. If you won’t even pick up a phone why am I expected to believe you’ll be the hardest antifa soldier there ever was when the revolution comes (which, conveniently, is never)?
This is more embarrassing than those people who spend real life money prepping for a zombie apocalypse. At least those people have things that might actually be useful in a real disaster.
Just called mine! I probably sounded like an ignoramus, but hopefully I said enough intelligible buzz words.
Awesome!
How many calls cancel out each dollar from corporate lobbying
Less than you would think, but it also depends on how you contact them. A physical call is way more powerful than an email. 10 people passionate enough to call can easily translate to 1k people passionate enough to vote about it.
It's highly variable, and yes I absolutely agree money in politics is a big problem. I do have a direct experience where reaching out to my Senators led to them aggressively and successfully opposing a provision in a law that would have had a big impact on me. Don't want to dox myself, but this real change to a bill made a huge difference to me and many others. So it is possible to make an impact.
Thought I'd add that mass phone calls are a tactic used by the NRA and other powerful lobby groups. Getting a lot of their group's members to voice their opinion is the key to their success...perhaps to the point of making an office fearful of the backlash via phone calls for going against them.
The real power of the NRA is their membership is mostly reliable voters.
It also helps if you have a very specific and narrow cause .. muh guns rights .. and anti or pro specific legislation. This creates broad consensus.. that follows the NRA draft talking points they usually bring out.
My state's senator-elect is a republican, pretty sure he doesnt care.
They actually do care believe it or not. When our city council was voting on municipal fiber we showed up to petition our conservative city council representative to vote in favor. Guess who also attended, a representative from our federal senator’s office. Oh man the look on his face when only 3 members of the public showed up, two of them major supporters of municipal broadband, and the third spoke up to agree with us. Mmmm priceless. The city council man and conservative rep were so damn flustered. The senator’s rep took notes the whole time and we got to talk to him one on one. These outreach events do way more than you would think, this is how they gauge what they can get away with. Don’t let them discourage you, show up and bitch!
A self-fulfilling prophecy if his constituents don't try to make him care
If anything that makes it more important. We already know how essentially all the Democrats are going to vote. A couple of Republican defections is all it takes to hold the Senate.
The key here is they don’t have to defect on everything. Turning every Republican senator into a never Trumper isn’t happening. But making some of them defect some of the time is a lot more feasible, and requires constant pressure.
Being aware of local and state government is always a good thing to do and so much stuff is streamed since Covid. It makes you an informed voter and it's where most of the stuff that impacts you will take place. Marijuana is one example of the impact of state law winning out despite federal law.
Reach out in any form you choose. Get to know them and what they stand for through their actions. Explain how things will effect you and people you know. Like anywhere else being an asshole is not the way to go. You might not change their mind but reminding them that everyday voters are paying attention has an effect even if you respectfully disagree.
I’ve been calling my representatives nonstop for a year to end their support for the genocide in Palestine. When is this supposed to start working?
These tactics are not always a guarantee to have things go your way, but they increase the chances. For phone calling, numbers of people calling in matter the most, particularly at strategic times, including: right after big announcements, right before a committee vote, right before a floor vote. It's also more effective before dominant narratives have arisen around a topic and there is uncertainty on how things could shake out.
That makes it sound like a secular version of thoughts and prayers.
These tactics are not always a guarantee to have things go your way
See also: Atlanta city council voting for Cop City despite over two hundred people showing up at the meeting, in person, to speak against it. (Not to mention a petition for a referendum that got hundreds of thousands of signatures but was illegally withheld from the ballot anyway.)
You're right that actually talking to your representatives works surprisingly often, but sometimes it really blatantly doesn't.
That’s a nice fantasy. But the sooner you accept reality, the sooner you can begin to get to work on actual solutions, instead of playing along with the illusion.
Why not use multiple tactics? It's not all or nothing and yes I'm certain Senate offices care about hearing from constituents, far more effective than simply doom scrolling.
The only benefit to attempting to push progressive policies and candidates through the existing system is to illustrate to people on the fence that system cannot be reformed, and it must be destroyed before it will represent us.
I'm for larger structural changes, but I disagree that rolling over and allowing fascists to get their way in the current system is acceptable. Let's do both
If you think either of the only two parties allowed to run aren’t both fascists, you’re not paying attention.
They don't give a shit about that. They don't pick up their phones.
They have automated email responses, and if you send them an email you are put on their campaign donation mailing lists.
If you can't get in their face or them into your back pocket it is not worth it.
Revolution is required at this point.
Have you tried calling their phones? Sure some don't pick up, but enough do.
I'm in favor of larger structural changes, but I'm not about to roll over and allow fascists to get everything they want in the current system. How many people do you expect to join a revolution if they won't even be bothered to pick up a phone?
LOL
Sure they do.
How do you know? Have you ever actually tried?
I think the lack of correlation between public opinion and government policy is more than satisfactory to demonstrate how much our federal legislators care about your phone calls, yes.
I think the lack of correlation between public opinion and government policy is more than satisfactory to demonstrate how much our federal legislators care about your phone calls, yes.
I hear you and acknowledge it is frustrating. But your assumption seems to be that your view is shared by all and thus "public opinion" aligns perfectly with what you believe or at least that a majority agrees with you. We all do this because we imagine our opinions to be sensible and hey, why wouldn't other people share them? But they don't.
I have. Quite a lot. I think they actually made things worse just to spite me.
Cool. I'm actually in the same boat. My House rep is a Republican fuckwit who's been in office for a billion years, give or take. We agree on exactly nothing. I still call and email for the simple reason that even though he will always go with the majority opinion if I don't do it then there will never be a chance for it to not be the majority opinion. I know it seems futile but it still important to represent our views and make sure those we disagree with aren't the only thing they hear.
What do you even write in the email?
"Do what I want or else..."
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