We’re Writing and Calling our Representatives in Congress, Right?
Like most of the people reading this post, I write and call my congresspeople frequently, requesting/demanding one thing or another. Here’s the letter I got back from the newly elected U.S. representative from my district in California, Salud Carbajal (for whom I voted), urging him to support the vigorous and honest investigation re: the Russians’ part in bringing Donald Trump to power.
Not too bad a response, I would say–not that too many resources were consumed in the process. How much time did it require on the part of a staffer to cut and past this little beauty together? Probably 45 seconds. Will the essential content of my letter get through to the rep? I’d like to think so. But is there a better use of a few seconds of my time to harangue the living bejesus out of the people who ostensibly represent my interests? None.
The raising of voices on the part of the U.S. electorate is a part of the democratic process at all times, but at this point it’s perhaps the only part that means anything at all, given that we have a Republic-held White House, Senate, House, and now a right-wing Supreme Court, none of which gives a damn about anything but the strength of corporations and the protection of U.S. business interests. Currently, there is not a single element of the federal government that has any concern whatsoever for the well-being of the common American and of U.S. standing on the world stage.
Becoming a squeaky wheel is essentially all we have.
Craig,
I applaud your interest in taking part in the democratic process of your nation.
To the best of my knowledge, Congressman Salud Carbajal’s 24th District has a population of about 720,000 of whom 600,000 are eligible to vote.
The calls upon a Congresspersons time must be enormous. Of those 600,000 there must be a percentage who really need the services of their Congressman to deal with matters where only his representation can be effective.
In addition to his duties in Congress, supporting his party, sitting on committees, lobbying legislation etc, he must still address problems and interest groups particular to the 24th District.
Consider for a moment if all constituents behaved like you and wrote just one letter per year. If the Congressman took just 5 minutes to consider each, it would take more than 100 years to answer just one years mail !
Sometimes, I think we ask too much of elected representatives.
With the advent of social media, unfortunate politicians have even less time to consider problems in depth, and must rely on increasingly large (and expensive) support staff.
The cost of increasing support staff (additional to poorly paid government funded aides) must come from campaign contributions, which in turn eat into a busy Representatives time.
So while I appreciate your desire to participate in the democratic process, I just wonder if you expectations mightn’t be just a little unrealistic ?
Your expectations seem to be based on an idealistic “founding fathers” concept of representation, when congressional districts had maybe 5000 citizens and newspapers and town hall meetings were the only “media”.
A world of small villages, where Washington was a remote place and dealt with issues far removed from the ordinary citizen.
I would imagine Rep. Carbajal’s schedule is a nightmare of juggling priorities, especially since the US House of Representative term is absurdly short. No sooner is a Rep elected, than he’s back campaigning.
It seems to me, urgent reform is needed to extend the term of the lower house to four years. Not only would this save the huge expense of an election, but increase the effectiveness of legislators.
If I were an American Voter, that would be my “crusade ” of choice.