Email em all!

[WarHawk-AVG]

Ever wanted a quick hit button that you could email your elected Representatives and pretty much let them know how you feel about an issue!?

Look no further
http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just punch in your ZIP CODE and it pre-selects your reps, pre-populates the email with a very professional sounding letter, then all you do is click it and POW!

[The Annoyed Man]

That looks like a good resource. I wonder if the NRA has one like it.

[Mike1951]

To find your representative, yes, but without pre-written letters.

http://www.capwiz.com/nra/dbq/officials/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When NRA is soliciting responses to a specific issue, there may be a letter combined with it (can't remember for certain).

[nitrogen]

NEVER EVER use pre-written letters.
They are extremely ignorable by reps, and anyone else.

[seamusTX]

Let me propose a different point of view:

A while back, I was talking to a guy who had been an intern in a representative's office. One day the rep showed him a small stack of letters. He said those were the letters that he had received from his constituents that month.

Then he showed him a pile of postcards a foot high that came from NRA members on one issue.

Those postcards may not change a rep's mind, but they let him know that a lot of his constituents care about these issues.

Almost no representative or senator reads letters or e-mail. They just have an aide brief them on the magnitude of public sentiment.

That's why the first line of the letter should be something like, "Vote No on H.R. 8131." Nobody is going to read the rest.

A different person, who has lobbied in Austin, told me that they pay the most attention to faxes. They get too much phony e-mail, and U.S.P.S. letters are delayed by being treated for anthrax. (I don't know if they're still doing that.)

- Jim

[nitrogen]

Jim makes a good point...

If you actually want your rep to READ what you've written, dont use a form letter.

They do work for general "THE NRA HAS CALLED THIS BAD" things though.

[brianko]

What about phone calls? There is some personal satisfaction to talking to a live person (I've made a few phone calls to representatives), but is a person-to-person contact more or less effective than a fax/post?

(I would tend to agree that e-mail is probably the least effective..I can only imagine the amount of spam that has to be sifted through!)

[Mike1951]

It is quite likely that no letter, no matter how well written, is going to be read by the addressee.

An aide will read enough to decide which side of an issue you endorse and log the contact.

So it seems that the pre-written letters would work equally as well as a literary masterpiece.

Besides, I don't have the writing skills of forum member Jim Longley. The pre-written letters allow me to quickly express my opinions on the issues to those that matter. Otherwise, if I waited to compose something that satisfied me, the contact would probably never be made.

[seamusTX]

What about phone calls?

I don't know.

Face-to-face is definitely the most convincing method of communication. It's much harder to blow off a live person than a piece of paper, and particularly if someone travels to Austin or Washington, it demonstrates determination.

If you can pull off something the March on Washington in 1963, that really gets their attention. Unfortunately, it's too easy to have a small number of people that looks pathetic.

- Jim

[bdickens]

If you have trouble writing, I would recommend using the pre-written letters as a template and personalizing them. I'll also write one basic letter and then tailor it for each person I'm going to send it to.

[Mike1951]

I think written letters and faxes can be better since they are physical. If they retain the printed copies the opposing stacks or boxes of these can be a good visual. Nothing like filling an office with responses.

Phone calls and emails (AFAIK) are just logged and are represented only by their tallies on a piece of paper.

[Mike1951]

To give an idea of how little is read, I recently wrote Sen. Hutchison asking that she not run for governor against Perry.

I got a response thanking me for my support and donation.

[seamusTX]

Someone hit the wrong button on the form-letter generator.

- Jim