Hi, my name is NAME. I live in PLACE, and I am a constituent of ELECTED OFFICIAL. I am calling because the police department of Ferguson, Missouri is using federally funded weapons against unarmed American citizens in a reckless, inappropriate, and unlawful manner. I am calling to request immediate action to protect the people of Ferguson and to fully investigate the Ferguson Police Department’s actions, including the killing of Michael Brown and the subsequent abuse of protestors and arrest of journalists and elected officials. I believe that all civil rights and civil liberties, including the right to free speech and lawful assembly, are very important, and I hope that ELECTED OFFICIAL agrees with me. Thank you for your time.
You can use this handy form (http://hq-salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5950/getLocal.jsp) from the League of Women Voters to identify your elected officials. I am going to call my U.S. senators and congressmen and the president’s office. If you can’t call, you can e-mail, but I’ve been told phone calls count more.
Sometimes when you call they ask some questions about who you are or where you live, but it’s really painless usually. And, call even if you think your rep is an asshole — whoever answers the phone is trained to be polite. If they get enough calls, they usually wind up listening at some point.
wanna know the thing that has surprised me most in all my time working in DC? my number one wacky U.S. capital fact?
these calls actually matter you guys I am not joking.
before I got here I would see organizations asking people to call or email their representatives and kind of write it off like “oh politicians don’t listen to that stuff.” but in fact! there are correspondence managers and other people whose job is to keep track of the opinions expressed in all the calls/emails/letters that they get, and that does inform how the office chooses to respond – you hear in meetings “we’ve been getting a lot of calls in support of ____, but none opposing it, so we don’t see any benefit to opposing it” or “this isn’t a priority to our constituents” or whatever. This isn’t to say that politicians only ever do what their constituents want but it does factor in, if for no other reason than that politicians like being voted for repeatedly.
all of which is to say! I think this is a good idea. If you can’t call, that is fine. you can send an email via any congressional representative’s website, or even print and mail a letter – the addresses are also listed on their websites. You could have a letter-writing party or a call-in party, or if you’re a college student, maybe table in the student center with laptops where passers-by can send emails on your congressional reps’ websites.
for those of us in the USA.
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