How To Change The Government; pt 1

I'm not sure I can describe how I used to think government worked or what it meant to me, but now, I see that it impacts every decision I make and influences every choice available to me. Not just on election day, but every day.

After several years of participating in various activist communities, I doubt I could even stop myself reflexively looking at everything through a political lens. I realize that this is a little unusual. I'm okay with that. But hopefully my political immersion untherapy can also be useful to others.

Here, I write about sustainable food issues, but the activist lessons from many movements, including this one, often cross issue boundaries. Since the federal nutrition title is coming up for reauthorization this year, it seemed like a good time to start a program of political stretching, limbering up, what have you, so that more people will feel confident in their ability to participate.

First up, contacting your representatives.

There are three main avenues for this; email*, phone calls, and visits. Join me below for some very basic pointers on how to get the most out of these interactions.

Email

Consider your email inbox. If you're like most people, the first thing you do when you open it is to look for the names of people you know personally and read their email first. Next, you get rid of the junk mail that escaped the filter. If you're at work, or are an independent contractor, you might have customer email to address. Finally, you might get to emails sent to you by groups whose mailing lists you're on, or people that seem like they're not spammers, but you aren't sure why they're contacting you, either. Somewhere in there, you'll probably take a phone call, or several.

Before you know it, after all the interruptions that will inevitably occur while you're doing this, you'll be wondering where your time went and how you spent so much of it fiddling with your email.

Congressional staffers and government agency personnel responsible for reviewing public comments are in a similar situation, though the volume of incoming communication they deal with might run to hundreds of emails a day or more that have to be responded to.

So the question for everyone who's an activist is how to get noticed.

Now much of the communication they receive is internal to their offices, caucuses, or organizations, and plenty of the rest is from professional lobbyists. Some of these lobbyists are from laudable nonprofits, but a lot of them are going to be from industry. Still, one advantage you have is that the volume of mail they receive from the general public is usually very low.

If they get an individualized, unique email, they'll pay some attention to it. If they get 15,000 identical messages sent, obviously, from a single petition source, they'll probably count them as one email.

So the first thing to know is that you should always send an individualized email if you're going to take that route. Even if it means you write your representatives less often, the emails you do send will get more attention.

Phone

The phone call is still the best way to get in touch with Congress. While emails may be the most appropriate way to submit comments to agency staffers during public comment periods on regulations, for example, always call your congresscritter's office.

Depending on the district you live in, anywhere between a dozen to a few hundred phone calls may be enough to send the whole office into a frenzy. The assumption is that every phone call represents a broader upwelling of support, which is often actually the case. That a constituent has taken the time to pick up the phone, call a total stranger in a government office, and tell them about a concern or policy preference, that's a really big deal. Even if it doesn't change a vote that time around, it will get heard.

If the idea makes you nervous, and you're worried you might stammer (well, I sure worry about that, at least), just write down a couple things you want to remember and plow on through. It's not so bad.

The Visit

A visit in person to a congressional office is like hundreds of phone calls. And while it's awesome if you can visit the DC office, the district office in your area works just about as well for the typical activist's purposes.

First, don't expect to see your congressperson. They probably aren't there or have other things scheduled. Ask to meet with them, that would be nice, but don't expect it. If you get referred to a policy staffer to meet with, there's no need to take it as a brush off.

Developing relationships with your congressperson's staff, particularly if they have policy staffer dedicated to your area of concern, is very important. A policy staffer is your congressperson's mobile encyclopedia, internet, library and all-around point person for their subject. They're essential to the information gathering and decision-making process in a congressional office. Similarly, constituent services staff are the congressperson's eyes and ears in the district, they get listened to. Approach a meeting with them as you would a meeting with the congressperson themselves.

Second, don't expect to have a lot of time. That's fine. You want to make 2-3 points maximum to them, you want your message to be tight. If this is the sort of thing that makes you nervous, consider the bright side that you won't have to be there very long.

Third, know what you're going to say. Review any relevant stories you want to tell. Study up on your issue a bit so you'll feel confident if you have to go off your script. Find a piece of appropriate literature, or print out your own topic summary, to leave with them; something well referenced but brief, simple and direct.

Fourth, breathe calmly and deeply. Your representatives and their staffs work for you. They're supposed to be there to help you and represent your concerns in government. Well, not just yours, but you know what I mean.

To Sum Up

If you want a better government, you have to tell the people who work in government what that means to you. That starts by understanding how best to approach them and what communication channels you can leverage to get their attention.

* Sending regular mail to the government has become problematic since the anthrax scare in 2001, certainly to Congress. The additional security checks can delay messages for weeks, so if you're wondering why I don't discuss the stamp and envelope type of mail, that's why. Just call. It's less hassle for more effect.

(Photo credit: laura padgett on Flickr.)