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Be Right and Writeby Wayne Boettcher One of the responses I get to the question "Have you written Congress lately?" is a snort of derision or disbelief. "That's not going to do anything!" some protest. Really? How do they know that? The answer is that they really don't know, because a well-written letter can stop a Senator cold. But it's not the letter-writer's great wealth or position that has such an effect. It's what the letter says and how it is said that counts. Sound daunting? It's not, really. The first thing to consider is being right in the position written about. This requires much prayer and thought for every issue. Sometimes the answer seems fairly obvious. For instance, in the case of illegal immigration, we have a situation where the law is very specific. It's easy to be right here, since there are two kinds of immigration, legal and illegal. Illegal entrants to the US must leave if caught. If people don't like that, they should ask Congress to change US law to allow anyone citizenship for just walking across the border. (But they can’t because there aren't enough Congressional Representatives and Senators who will vote for such a silly thing directly.) Yet politicians will still try to sneak in all kinds of wacky and vague legislation to circumvent current law and achieve nefarious goals. To continue with the illegal immigration example, politicians use amnesty bills and weird laws to block enforcement of other laws. By doing this they still hope to achieve their goal of "legalizing" illegal behavior. Those who write in support of doing such things are in the wrong, yet they still do it. These requests for bad bills must be countered by your good letters on the right side of the issues. When people in the right don't write, the politicians think the wrong people are in the majority. This is probably how they justify themselves doing the wrong thing. Perhaps they think 'Well, I don't like passing this faulty bill but this is what the people want, so…" But just one or two letters that succinctly point out "this bill is wrong and you are wrong to support it" strike deep into the heart of the most cynical Senator. Why? Because they know you are right. That letter is worth a thousand on the wrong side of the issues! In the days of yore letters to Congress were written on paper only, of course. Then came faxes, then email. At first Congress was overwhelmed with emails and, not knowing for sure if the person was actually a constituent, ignored them. These days are long gone, however! Now Senators and House members have web forms that you fill out with your name and address. If they have to they can check and see if you really are a constituent. That brilliant move cleared out the riff-raff and now email web form letters are just as good as any other form of communication. It's so easy and convenient. So what are you waiting for? Turn off the TV or stop whatever else you are doing and gather your family around the dining table. Pick an issue and write out a short letter together. Remember; write as if you are speaking to an elementary school student who somehow got put in charge of the country. Don't make the letter too long. Two or three paragraphs are good. One to state the issue, two for relating facts and three to make your request on how the politician should vote. Sometimes those can be combined for only two or even just one paragraph. Two great victories have been achieved through letter writing this year. The first was when illegal immigration amnesty was almost rammed through the House and Senate due to all sorts of wheels and deals. Because of the huge numbers of calls, letters, faxes and emails, the surly politicians were forced to obey the will of the citizens. It was a close call but the people won. For lots of folks it was they only time they have ever written or called. Well, don't stop now! The politicians won't. They must constantly be reminded of our speech, religious, life and property rights to name a few. And don't forget our right to bear arms that protects the rest. Another great triumph occurred recently when our military were funded in Iraq with the recent omnibus bill. Pusillanimous politicians were trying to block their finances, all while piously claiming to "support the troops." However, the light of day defeated them. Reading your letters, they knew they were wrong and that much of the population knew it, too. They weren't going to "get away" with sneaking their slippery scheme through unseen and unheard. And enough were convinced so that the funding the troops had to pass. Of course there wasn't a Gospel revival with Representatives and Senators on their knees repenting of all sins. Would that were the case, but the same bill that funded the troops contained about 9,800 earmarks, according to President Bush. Together with the previously passed defense spending bill, that means Congress has approved about 11,900 earmarks this year. In case you didn't know, earmarks are spending projects slipped into legislation without attribution to any congressional member, without peer or public review, and usually specific to one locale, but paid for by taxpayers everywhere. (Definition by Americans for Prosperity.) For me, that means another letter must be written. Would that I could write about 10 issues in every email, but it's really better to keep each missive to just one matter. Don't confuse your elected officials! Convince them. And please be nice. For instance, don't say, "You're stupid to vote for that bill!" Rather request, "Please don't vote for that (convoluted) (oppressive) (anti-American) (erroneous) (unconstitutional) bill" to give a few examples. Use a descriptive word that describes the bill without insulting the email recipient, even if they are sponsoring the evil bill. Usually politicians write back pretending you didn't mean what you said or trying to say you are wrong.. You must write them again. This is paramount. You can easily repeat your letter and add at the top: "I got your reply but this is still my position." This is one reason to save a copy of every letter. The best way to do that is write the letter in a word processor application, not on the form itself. Then after spell checking, copy and paste it into the form and send it off. In this manner you can have one file with every letter to a politician. As the Year of Our Lord 2008 approaches, let's make a resolution to start or keep writing our representatives. This country is like no other in that we, the citizens, rule ourselves. While that gives us great freedoms, it also means we have certain responsibilities to stand up for the principles, policies and armed forces that keep us free. At no time in our history have we been totally safe from enemies foreign and domestic but in these times we must especially be strong to stand up for what's right - and stand up for America! Wayne Boettcher is the head of AmericanProtest.net Related Links: |
