Posted on 08/19/2005 8:52:42 AM PDT by SunnySide
Would a Fair Tax petition form letter for interested people to print out, sign and mail to their representatives be a good idea?
That would be a great idea IMHO ... I was hoping YOU had one posted here!
Not a bad idea. But not necessarily a good one. Petitions and letters make no difference on the federal level, and rarely on the state. They are only effective with local government (as long as you're not a major metropolitan area).
"They are only effective with local government "
Precisely how the border patrol issue finally got some of the western state governors to call state of emergency which starts a chain reaction then gets the attention of the federal government. Chain reaction start out small and builds into a rolling boulder.
"I was hoping YOU had one posted here!"
No, I was hoping some "swift" legal type would compose a short and to the point form letter. I stink at writing form letters.
I can agree with that partially. Petitions CAN sway local government. And local government has the power to sway state and federal government. I just don't think Congressmen pay attention to petitions. Perhaps if they come from their home state, but that's it.
"I just don't think Congressmen pay attention to petitions"
I don't mean the type of petition where many people sign the same letter. I meant where everyone mails in thousands and thousands of individual signed letters. Dump bags of letters into each office. I think it would get some attention.
Only if you're recruiting for the Scientology tax-frauds.
"Only if you're recruiting for the Scientology tax-frauds."
Huh? I don't get it.
Form letters are generally not a good idea -- they are regularly dismissed as being a PR stunt. A handwritten (as long as it's legible) letter with your own words will usually get much more attention.
Ignore him and he might go away.
Learn who's behind this phony tax panacea:
Published by the Church of Scientology International: Constructive Tax Reform
"A handwritten (as long as it's legible) letter with your own words will usually get much more attention."
In the age of word processors? (sob)
No, they figure out it's a form letter after opening about the fourth or fifth one.
A written-from-scratch, polite letter that's one page or less gets the most attention.
The Fair Tax? Scientologists?
You'd better call Neal Boortz and John Linder and tell *them* that!
Especially Boortz, who's not particularly fond of cultists of any stripe.
Sad, but true. The "personal touch" is more likely to be looked on as sincere. A typed/WP letter in your own words would still be more effective than a form letter of any type.
Also, in general, "snail mail" is taken more seriously than faxes; and faxes more seriously than email. The easier it is to send, the less seriously it is taken -- someone who takes the time to write and mail a letter is someone who is serious about the issue, and isn't just responding to a spur-of-the-moment impulse.
Only from the poor staffer that takes them down to the recycling bin.
If you so not speak out, then you have NO SAY.
Doesn't help? Doesn't matter?
Only if you do NOTHING does that apply.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."
John Stuart Mill - English economist & philosopher (1806 - 1873)
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