Letters from Congress. Behind the Farce.

[mft112345]

It's a farce.

I'm talking about letters to members of congress asking about public policy. Some questions deserve more than the typical boiler plate response letter (one drafted by a 22-year-old and signed by a machine that uses a real ink pen to create the illusion of a personal relationship).

Like I said, the truth is that most of incoming letters aren't read by the member and they're answered with a form letter. And when you call your Congressman's office, you're lucky if your five minute well-reasoned explanation of why a bill is bad becomes a line on a tally sheet.

Duping voters? Yes, but there's a good reason for this charade. One member hears from thousands of constituents every month on hundreds of issues. The human brain can only effectively process so much information at once, so every member builds a Maginot line of gatekeepers to screen out the kooks.

Congress isn't the only side to blame for this farce. Many constituents think they're making a difference by adding their name to a factually incorrect form letter written by an anonymous hack in a nonprofit lobbying group. Garbage in. Garbage out. A peon on capital hill prints a canned response on the office computer and mails it after forging the members signature. Long live representative democracy! George Washington fought the British so a computer could respond to a computer through the US mail!

"Wow, Congressman X wrote back! I'm glad he's considering all aspects of this issue. And I see that's real ink on the letter, so he obviously read my letter and signed his response. I feel like I know him so well. In my next letter, I'm going to request a signed photo so I can hang it on my fridge."

A humor writer would have a best seller by taking on this topic and providing a book of examples from politicians on both sides of the aisle. He or she probably could get impersonal unresponsive replies from politicians from every state by using friends' addresses or setting up PO boxes in every state.

Let's start a test here for a laugh -- or a cry.

Sending a message to a member costs virtually nothing in time or money.

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Someone ought to send a specific question on public policy that requests more of a response than the noncommittal "That bill is pending before committee x, I'll keep your views in mind."

If your Congressman or Senators offices do respond, they'll probably send a letter that ignores the question. Entertain readers here by by posting your original question with the impersonal response.

[mft112345]

any takers?

[RicocheT]

Our representatives and senators don't care about us because of safe seats/districts.

Both parties have gerrymandered the districts to create districts for life for the House of Representatives. Few senators are ever kicked out even when their states favor the other party in presidential years. It took a convergence of all the planets and stars to get Daschle out.

We don't have a republic. We have rule by elites. We are humored as we are the tax cows, but they don't respect us. We need another revolution. Today's Lebanon has more citizen input than the USA.

[Begferdeth]

Nothing back from them, but the form letters I sent out got me a bunch of free candy samples and a few movie posters :)

Isnt this whole thread sort of counterproductive? I mean, saying that they get too many letters and cant possibly answer them all, and then saying "lets all send them a letter and see if they try to answer them?"
Sort of reminds me of that radio station in an earthquake: "We need to keep the lines free for important emergency phone calls. And we will be taking called 98 for the free concert tickets".

[mft112345]

You get it wrong. Congressional staffers will send an answer that won't address any specific question asked. It's phony, and it deserves ridicule.