Saturday, October 26, 2013

Speak Up!

I've decided to speak up!
It's been a while since I've written here, but that doesn't mean I've not been writing!  It occurred to me during the most recent budgetary debacle that my Congressional representative had never heard from me and, therefore, had no idea how I might want him to represent me.  Complaining about feeling unrepresented was a bit unfair, so I set about remedying the situation.

The Internet is a great thing and the government mandate that all governmental departments have a web presence is even better when it comes to tracking down your Congressional representative or Senator.  Just go to http://www.house.gov and type your zip code in the search box.  (Or http://www.senate.gov to track down your senators.)  Voila!  Up pops the web page for your representative with mailing addresses and phone numbers for both Capitol Hill and district offices, as well as email addresses!  So, I picked up the phone on the first day of the shutdown and reached some poor receptionist who, at 8 a.m. DC time, already seemed a bit frazzled.  I very calmly, succinctly, and politely expressed my opinion and honestly wished her a good day.  Little did I know that by noon, nobody would be answering any phones in Congressional offices.

I've been feeling out-of-touch with my
Congressional representative.
Feeling a bit, well, unrepresented, I did what any card-carrying tech-girl would do:  I emailed my representative.  The next week I emailed him again and both of my senators.  I plan to continue doing so for a while yet.  I think they need to hear from me, from people who think like me, and from people who don't think like me.

When our Constitution was written, the Congress met for relatively brief sessions, leaving legislators available to spend considerable time among their constituents.  The length of modern sessions precludes that valuable listening time.  Candidly, I've never seen my representative in person.  In his defense, though, I've never made any attempts to attend the few meetings he has held in my county, either.  I've only seen one of my senators in person, just as, good Southern politician that he is, he lit the fuse at an anvil shoot.  (DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!)

It's my responsibility
to communicate
with my
representatives!
So, I am changing that.  I've decided to communicate with them regularly by email (or maybe the occasional phone call).  I want them to know what this real person in their constituency is thinking about issues.

I invite you to do the same.  Let your representative and senators know what you are thinking.  Otherwise, how would they know?

How are you living your Savory life?

Nancy