Unless, of course, you send one nasty note to your Congressman then get angry because you don't get an answer that makes sense and give it up in disgust. Because if you do that, you really are alone until 2010.
But you can have an impact, right now. If we work together. If we organize. If we use our heads and the rights the Founders set down for us.
I have a plan. But I need your help. Let me explain.
It isn't about the numbers. It's about the pulse, the focus, the tonnage.
In an historically Republican district, if the Republicans don't come out to vote, who wins?
No matter how big your majority, if it doesn't move when you need it, you lose.
Oddly, I just got the paragraph below as part of a newsletter e-published by ATPE, my teacher's organization. This is about a bill that would mess with the classroom teacher-to-student ratios. As it happens, I think they're arguing about a silly point, but that isn't the point. Read on.
"Prior to the committee hearing, ATPE sent a LAN message to ATPE members who live in certain committee members’ districts. The LAN alert asked members to call committee members and ask them to oppose SB 300. During the hearing, several committee members remarked that they had received hundreds of calls in the last 24 hours from educators opposed to SB 300."
It appears that this bill, as it stood, is dead. The article goes on to tell how the author of the bill has rewritten it to be much more acceptable.
We didn't change his mind by arguing it with him. "Hundreds of calls in the last 24 hours" from that man's district did. The pulse, the intense weight of the calls over a short period of time convinced that man that he would lose his job if he didn't listen to his constituents.
If Charley Gonzalez gets a thousand emails opposed to whatever over the course of a month, he can conclude that the passion that could get him fired isn't there. If those same thousand emails arrive in the space of a few hours, he must reconsider his position.
I want to create a network of people who can deliver that pulse on demand. I want to be able to send out a call that puts 10,000 emails in Chuck's inbox over-night. OK. Maybe I'm exaggerating. But...?
If you're not yet convinced, read on.
Our politicians, even the Republicans, have forgotten or ignored their best resource available until 2010. Us. This is what the Founders meant by "petition the government for the redress of grievances."
If a couple hundred people get together and have a "tea party," the mass media will ignore it and the end result is that you've convinced a couple hundred people who went to the "tea party" that they've "raised awareness." Have you seen the first story on ABC mentioning these tea parties? If so, are they running it every half hour?
The best those events can do, apart from making us feel better, is cut into BO's popularity numbers. BO could give a goddamn about his popularity polls. He has the job for the next four years. Pelosi and Reid come from heavily Democratic districts and feel fairly comfortable with their chances next election. They are probably terribly amused by all the tea parties.
Don't misunderstand me (in case this reaches any of the tea party organizers) these events aren't pointless. They serve to keep our morale up and the conservative news people do report them, but they aren't focused. Will there be a mile-long conga-line of people carrying "Charley Gonzalez, 2010 is coming! Watch yer...!" ? If there isn't, he probably won't even notice.
If, however, twelve hours produces three thousand emails opposing a bill he just voted on, or signed on as co-sponsor, or spoke about, we will have his attention. If we can keep that up, we can convince him that he'll be doing the rubber-chicken circuit come December of 2010 while a Republican warms his seat in the House. Once he is convinced of that, his votes will be much more palatable.
The network I am proposing could produce that pulse of opinion that can't be ignored.
If you're not yet convinced, read on.
Some weeks back, before I screwed up the courage to start this project, I emailed our Senators to bring up an issue over BO's suggestion that they tax mileage to pay for highway construction. I got a call from someone in Cornyn's office. I think it was an opportunity that turned stale because he had to leave a message on the answering machine and I didn't get to talk to him until the next day. By that time, he'd forgotten whatever it was that motivated him to call and was left with a rather lame, uh, well, Obama has dropped that idea.
But I had a chance to ask a few questions. He was gracious enough to take the time to answer. It turns out that between emails, paper letters and phone calls, no differentiation is made about importance or value. It is not "better" to phone rather than email. What matters to the Senator is the contact. As I have previously surmised, staff people read these things, figure out what issue and what side, make a tick mark and move on. Monthly, they sum up these "votes" and pass them along to the Senator. This is why you get those nonsense answers.
Here's the interesting point. If they get a new issue, or a sudden flood of input, they react more quickly. Like they did to my email. If a new issue arrives, they have to puzzle out a matching boiler-plate response. Now and then, something in an email will catch their eye and it gets passed upward, eventually reaching the Senator. Now and then.
My guess is that the Congressman's numbers and procedures are similar.
In my humble opinion, BO's gotten away with all the stuff he has because we weren't ready. The voters are standing aside, letting their representatives handle it.
Well, they CAN'T.
They don't have the numbers.
We do.
Keep writing your own emails, folks. I sure as heck will.
All I am asking is that you sign onto the effort, try to recruit others, and when we need it, write that targeted email that is part of the flood.
Let's call it the
Conservative American Network
We C.A.N.
Send my DP guy your name, your email address and your ten digit zip code. I'll be in touch.
bnoman@satx.rr.com
David Bollinger
San Antonio