When people find out that I’m an activist and write Congress constantly to share my viewpoints, I am often asked, “What do you write them about?” The answer depends on what I either support or oppose – but usually it’s a combination of facts that I know and an expression of my desires.
A lot of people don’t really know how to write congress or what to say when they’re doing so. You can get contact information for Congress quite easily online – and as far as what to say – whatever’s on your mind and is important to you. You don’t really have to be super eloquent, nor lengthy and you can go through the process of writing “old fashioned” letters, or of course, email, if that’s what you prefer. I choose letters because I like to get paper letters in return…for evidence. 🙂
You might be saying to yourself, “I don’t have time to write Congress letters…but I still want to be heard. What can I do?” Well, you can still make a difference. There are many websites promoting online petitions where all you have to do is find what you’re interested in and type your name. These websites have revolutionized the way people communicate with their representatives – it allows a large number of people to get behind a single issue; carrying with it the weight of all the signatory parties.
Since I would like to see more people get active and discover their own voice, I thought it might be helpful to share a number of my favorite letters that I have written. I hope this might inspire others to write their Congress in an effort to share their opinion and perhaps affect change. Just as jury duty is a civic duty and responsibility, so is participating in government and exercising your freedom to voice concerns to that government. This is especially true now that more and more critical legislation is handled by the legislators and never sees the light of a ballot.
For those inspired or interested in the good old fashioned letter writing, this will be a four part series: The first will deal with the potential war on Iran. The second has to do with the Federal Reserve and their decision to stop publishing the M3 data, essentially disguising a large portion of our economy. The third addresses my feeling on Real ID, the new national ID card that will be forced down our throats in 2009. The fourth, and final, covers what I do when I feel like I’m paying too much at the gas pump.
I hope they will both serve to educate and inspire! Happy reading!
