Let's Manage Our Elected Representatives

I’ve been complaining that I think we could do more to help set this nation back on course if we got more engaged with our government. I think most Americans take an “Elect-It-And-Forget-It” approach to our politicians, and we have a higher duty than that. I also think most of us are adverse to conflict or are hesitant to speak up (or just want to live our lives), so I thought I would start this thread as a place we can support each other in doing a better job in communicating with them. The Swamp ain’t gonna drain itself, and those critters belong to us. Keep in mind that the dockets will be wiped clean with the new session of Congress starting in January.

My idea is not so much that we debate specific positions to take (although there will likely be conversations around some topics), but that we are not hanging out there on our own as we make our representatives hear our voices. For example, I am with a single-issue group that goes to the state capital every year and gets face-to-face with every state delegate and senator before that year’s legislative session begins. I would never do that on my own, but find it easy when with a group of like-minded people. And I rub shoulders with other folks who are their pushing their own needs.

I figured the best place to start would be to provide the tools to contact those who currently represent us.

Here is where you can find your Federal representatives. Congress.gov You can use this site to contact each representative electronically. Their phone numbers are also provided. Not all representatives have email addresses…you may be stuck with their online form. Remember that your representatives may change in January, since we just had an election.

Here is where you can find your Federal, state and almost all local representatives. whoaremyrepresentatives.org This gave me the President, the Vice-President, my Senators and my Congressman. At the state level they show the governor, the Lt. Governor, the attorney general, my state delegate and my state senator. At the local/county level is the sheriff, the circuit of the court, the commonwealth’s attorney, the county treasurer and the country commissioner of the revenue. The only thing missing for me is my county’s board of supervisors representative. There are phone numbers and websites listed for all of them.

It can be overwhelming. I hope we can help each other identify what’s important at the Federal level after Trump is sworn in. I'd also like us to talk about what each of our states is up to, since political efforts tend to be coordinated across boundaries (for example, Virginia democrats recently tied us to Electric Vehicle regulations passed by California politicians. I wonder what other states tried to pull something similar.)

 

I have Tim Kaine as my senator. He's a male Hillary. He had an (R) challenger that did surprisingly well, but did not unseat him. Tim won't listen to me, but I gotta add my voice to the mix.

 

I wouldn't discourage anyone from contacting their elected representatives because that is how government is supposed to work. For some of us, however, contacting our elected officials is no more effective than yelling at the television.

At the national level, on the Senate side, we have Senator Susan Collins, a Republican who votes with the Republicans only when her vote doesn't matter, and Senator Angus King, a registered Independent who couldn't possibly be more of a Democrat.

Calls or letters to Susan Collins result in a canned response thanking me for my support of whatever it was that I clearly didn't want her to do. Any communication with her office is counted as support for whatever she is going to do, anyhow. On one issue, after calling her office, my wife asked the person who answered the phones at her office what the responses had been, and she was told that more than 80% of the calls were in favor of whatever it was that we wanted her to vote for, yet she voted against it as we knew she would.

Angus King is far more cordial. Unlike Collins, he will meet with us whenever we're in Washington, D.C., and want a tour of the Capitol building, and his canned responses to calls or letters acknowledge what was actually said in the message it was in reply to, and will make some attempt to explain why he is going to vote differently. But, he's still going to vote with the Democrats.

On the House side, both of Maine's Congresscritters are Democrats. The one serving my district is Congressman Jared Golden, who was just elected to a second term. He is going to vote however he is told to vote by the Democrat leadership, and I don't think he's ever voted differently. Yet, he was just reelected in a district that voted heavily for Trump because he has military experience and puts out campaign ads showing himself at the gun range. I'd feel silly asking him to vote against the Democrat leadership because he knows darned well that his voting record doesn't matter to the voters, as long as he looks good at a gun range and talks about bringing jobs to Maine.

 

Yeh, I have a couple that communicating with is a waste of time. Somehow I feel compelled to do it, though. I don't know why. I to give up would mean that they win, in a weird way.

It's discouraging to hear their aide openly admit that the rep votes against the wishes of the constituents that take the time to call, yet continues to get voted back into office.